Madras High Court
M.Natarajan vs The Rent Tribunal Cum First Additional ... on 27 September, 2023
Author: B.Pugalendhi
Bench: B.Pugalendhi
WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
DATED : 27.09.2023
CORAM:
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE B.PUGALENDHI
WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023
M.Natarajan .. Petitioner
v.
1.The Rent Tribunal cum First Additional District Court,
Madurai.
2.The Principal Rent Court cum Principal District Munsif,
Madurai Town.
3.V.Jeyaprakash .. Respondents
Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India
seeking issuance of a Writ of Certiorari calling for the records relating to
the impugned order dated 03.01.2023 passed in R.L.T.A.No.4 of 2022 on
the file of the Rent Tribunal (I Additional District Court), Madurai,
confirming the impugned order dated 08.07.2023 passed in R.L.T.O.P.No.
50 of 2021 on the file of the Principal Rent Court (Principal District
Munsif Court), Madurai Town and quash the same.
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For Petitioner : Mr.J.Barathan
*****
ORDER
The petitioner proposed to file this writ petition as against the order passed by the I Additional District Court, Madurai, in R.L.T.A.No.4 of 2022, dated 03.01.2023, under Section 38 of the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as 'the TNRLT Act'), confirming the order passed by the Principal District Munsif Court, Madurai, in R.L.T.O.P.No.50 of 2021, dated 08.07.2022.
2.Since the writ petition is proposed to be filed as against the order passed by the Rent Tribunal, the Registry has returned the petition for maintainability. Not satisfied with the endorsement made, the learned Counsel insisted for listing this matter for maintainability and therefore, the Registry has listed the matter today under the caption 'for maintainability'.
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3.Learned Counsel for the petitioner, by referring the provisions which are available as against the orders passed by the Consumer Forums, Labour Courts, Tribunals, before the Writs Courts, submitted that there is no such explicit provision available for the affected parties on the orders passed by the Rent Tribunal. Therefore, this Court has to entertain this writ petition, similar to the way in which this Court is entertaining the writ petitions against the orders of Consumer Forums, Labour Courts and Tribunals.
4.He further submitted that since the Rent Authority, Rent Court and Rent Tribunal are statutory authorities created by the statute, their orders are amenable to the special original jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
5.Heard the learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner and perused the available materials.
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6.The subject matter in this writ petition is a dispute between a landlord and a tenant. The order sought to be challenged in this writ petition is the order passed by the Rent Tribunal. The Rent Tribunal has passed this order on the appeal filed by this petitioner under the TNRLT Act.
7.The dispute involved in the rent control proceedings is a private dispute between the landlord and a tenant. The order passed by the Rent Court is appealable and the appeal lies before the Rent Tribunal as per Section 38 of the TNRLT Act. Clause (b) of Sub-Section 5 of Section 38 states that the order of the Rent Tribunal shall be final and that no further appeal or revision shall lie as against the order of a Rent Tribunal.
8.The petitioner has proposed to file this writ petition by referring the writ petitions which were entertained by this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India as against the orders passed by the Labour Courts, Consumer Courts and other Tribunals. The Industrial Tribunal or the Labour Court dealing with the application under the Industrial Disputes 4/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 Act, 1947, are not Courts and they are in no way governed by the Code of Civil Procedure or the Code of Criminal Procedure. This has already been settled by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Town Municipal Council, Athani v. Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Hubli & Others [AIR 1969 SC 1335] and Nityananda M.Joshi & Others v. Life Insurance Corporation of India & Others [(1969) 2 SCC 199].
9.The proceedings conducted by a Rent Court or a Rent Tribunal are judicial findings as per the Civil Procedure Code and therefore, the judicial findings passed by the Rent Tribunal is not amenable under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. Moreover, the order passed by a Rent Court or the Rent Tribunal are executable by the Rent Court as a decree of a civil Court. Therefore, the order of the Rent Tribunal is deemed to be a judicial order of the civil Court.
10.A Larger Bench of the High Court of Rajasthan had discussed a similar such issue on a reference made as to the applicability of a writ petition as against the judgment of the Rent Tribunal in Mahendra Kumar 5/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 Jain v. Appellate Rent Tribunal, Ajmer and Others [AIR 2022 Raj 7].
The relevant portion from the said decision is extracted as under:-
“57. Under the Act of 1950, all the disputes between landlord and tenant including fixation of standard rent, restoration of the amenities enjoyed by tenant, the eviction of tenant from the premises on specified grounds, restoration of possession to the evicted tenant, the payment, remittance and deposit of the rent by tenant, were being adjudicated by the lowest Civil Court of competent jurisdiction. Every decree or order passed by the Court under the Act of 1950 were subject to appeal, the Court to which appeal ordinarily lies from original decree and order passed by such former Court. By virtue of sub- section (2) of Section 22, second appeal from any such decree or order was forbidden, without affecting the powers of the High Court in revision.
58. Inter alia, with an object to make adequate provision for timely vacation of premises as also determination of fair rent, while retaining certain inbuilt safeguards for the tenant, the State Legislature replaced the Act of 1950 by the Act of 2001 wherein, the provisions regarding the payment and remittance of rent by tenant, revision of rent, limited period tenancy, eviction of the tenant from the premises, the right of landlord to recover immediate possession in certain cases, restoration of possession 6/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 of illegally dispossessed tenant, the procedure for recovery of possession etc. were incorporated.
59. Chapter V of the Act of 2001 makes the provision for the constitution of the tribunals and procedure to be adopted by the tribunals while adjudicating the dispute between the landlord and tenant. Later, by way of Rajasthan Rent Control (Amendment) Act, 2017, Chapters V-A and V-B were inserted.
Under Section 22A of the Act of 2001, the provision was made for creation of Rent Authority. By incorporating Section 22B, letting out and taking of any premises on rent except by way of an agreement in writing, has been prohibited and it is made compulsory that the particulars of such agreement shall be communicated to the Rent Authority by the landlord and tenant jointly in the form specified in the Schedule B. By inserting Chapter V-B, the Rent Authority has been empowered to deal with the matters relating to revision of rent in certain circumstances, security deposit, deposit of the rent in certain circumstances etc.
60. Section 13 of the Act of 2001, makes the provision for constitution of the Rent Tribunal and Section 19 for Appellate Rent Tribunal. As per sub-section (3) of Section 13, the Rent Tribunal consists of one person only (referred as ‘the Presiding Officer’) to be appointed by the High Court. As per sub-section (4), no person is eligible to be appointed as Presiding Officer of 7/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 the Rent Tribunal unless he is member of Rajasthan Judicial Service not below the rank of Civil Judge (Senior Division). Similarly, as per sub-section (3) of Section 19, an Appellate Rent Tribunal also consists of one person only (referred as ‘Presiding Officer of Appellate Tribunal’) to be appointed by the High Court, who as per provisions of subsection (4) of Section 19 cannot be the person except a member of the District Judge cadre having not less than three years experience as such.
61. As per provisions of sub-section (6) of Section 19, every final order passed by the Rent Tribunal is made appealable to the Appellate Rent Tribunal within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the premises is situated. As per the mandate of sub- section (11) (ii)(c) of Section 19, the decision of the Appellate Rent Tribunal shall be final and no further appeal or revision shall lie against its order. Thus, for adjudication of the dispute between landlord and tenant setting up of two tiers of Tribunal was proposed. Accordingly, Rent Tribunals and Appellate Rent Tribunals have been constituted in the State of Rajasthan for various local areas to which Act of 2001 has been made applicable.
62. Coming to the procedure to be adopted by the Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal, Section 14 of the Act of 2001 provides for procedure to be adopted in dealing with the petition presented before the Rent Tribunal by the landlord for 8/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 revision of rent under Section 6 or Section 7 of the Act of 2001. The petition to be submitted by the landlord is required to be accompanied by affidavits and documents if any. On filing the petition, the Rent Tribunal is required to issue notice accompanied by copies of the petition, affidavits and documents to the opposite party, and the opposite party may file reply, affidavits and documents after serving the copies of the same on the petitioner within specified period. The notice on the respondent may be served through the Process Server of the Tribunal or Civil Court as well as by Registered Post, acknowledgment due. Notice duly served by any of the method is mandated to be treated as sufficient service. After filing of the reply, the petitioner (landlord) is entitled to file rejoinder to the reply filed on behalf of the respondent (tenant). Thereafter, the Rent Tribunal is required to fix the date of hearing which shall not be later than 90 days from the date of service of notice on the tenant. As per sub-section (5) of Section 14, during the course of hearing, the Rent Tribunal may hold a summary inquiry as it deems necessary and fix the rent as per the formula laid down under Section 6 or 7 and issue a recovery certificate indicating the date from which such rent shall be payable.
63. Section 15 of the Act of 2001 provides for procedure for eviction of tenant and Section 16 provides for procedure for recovery of immediate possession, which is not different than the 9/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 procedure prescribed under Section 14 for revision of rent referred hereinabove.
64. Section 18 of the Act of 2001 deals with jurisdiction of the Rent Tribunal. Sub-section (1) of Section 18 mandates that notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for time being in force in the areas to which the Act of 2001 extends, only the Rent Tribunal and no Civil Courts shall have jurisdiction to hear and decide the petitions relating to the dispute between landlord and tenant and the matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto. Proviso to Section 18 clarifies that in deciding such petitions to which the provisions contained in Chapter II & III of the Act of 2001 (which deal with revision of rent and tenancy including eviction of the tenant on specified grounds) do not apply, the Rent Tribunal shall have due regard to the provisions of Transfer of Properties Act, 1882 (Act No. 4 of 1882), the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (Act No. 9 of 1872), or any other substantive law applicable to such matter in the same manner in which such law would have been applied had the dispute been brought before a Civil Court by way of suit.
65. As per Section 20, the Rent Tribunal on an application of any party is empowered to execute a final order or any other order passed under the Act of 2001 in the manner prescribed by adopting any of one or more modes specified. Sub-section (4) of Section 20 mandates the execution proceedings in relation to a 10/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 final order or any other order shall be conducted by the Rent Tribunal in summary manner.
66. Sub-section (1) of Section 21 mandates that in every case before the Rent Tribunal and the Appellate Rent Tribunal, the evidence of a witness shall be given by affidavit. However, the Rent Tribunal or the Appellate Rent Tribunal, where it appears to it that it is necessary in the interest of justice to call a witness for examination or cross-examination and such witness can be produced, may order attendance of examination or cross examination of such a witness. Sub-section (3) of Section 21 provides that the Rent Tribunal and the Appellate Rent Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedural laid down by the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (Central Act No. 5 of 1908), but shall be guided by the principle of natural justice and subject to other provisions of this Act or the Rules made thereunder and shall have powers to regulate their own procedure, and for the purpose of discharging their functions under this Act, they shall have the same powers as are vested in a Civil Court under the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (Central Act No. 5 of 1908) while trying a suit or an appeal in respect of following matter namely:
—
(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;
(b) requiring the discovery and production of documents;11/19
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(c) reviewing its decision;
(d) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents;
(e) dismissing petition for default or deciding it ex-parte;
(f) setting aside any order or dismissal of any petition for default or any order passed by it ex-parte;
(g) bringing legal representatives on record; and
(h) any other matter as may be prescribed.
67. Sub-section (5) of Section 21 declares that the proceedings before the Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal shall be judicial proceedings within the meaning of sections 193 and 228 and for the purpose of Section 196 of the Penal Code, 1860 (Central Act No. 45 of 1860) and the Rent Tribunal or the Appellate Rent Tribunal shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for the purposes of Section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (Central Act No. 2 of 1974).
68. Undoubtedly, the Act of 2001 confers exclusive jurisdiction on Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal to hear and decide all the disputes between the landlord and tenants and matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto and thus, the jurisdiction of the ordinary civil Court to deal with the dispute between the landlord and tenant in the areas to which the Act of 2001 is made applicable stands ousted. The proceedings before the tribunal commences with the filing of the 12/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 petition accompanied by affidavits and documents, which in all respect is in the nature of the plaint. The procedure to be adopted for service of notice upon the opposite party is not different than provided under the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (‘CPC). The opposite party on service of notice is entitled to file reply to the petition accompanied by affidavit and documents. Thereafter, the petitioner is entitled to file rejoinder, if any, as a matter of right.
69. The Rent Tribunal is empowered to enforce the attendance of the person and examine him on oath. Further, it may direct the discovery and production of documents, issue commission for examination of the witnesses or documents, dismiss the petition for default or decide it ex parte, set aside the order of dismissal of any petition for default or any order passed by it ex parte, to bring the legal representatives of deceased party on record etc..
70. Though, the Act of 2001 does not specifically provides for cross examination of the deponent who has filed affidavit before the Tribunal in support of the petition or in defence but, as laid down by a Bench of this Court in Aasandas v. State of Rajasthan, (2005) 2 RLW 1281 Raj., while dealing with the application seeking permission for cross examination, the Rent Tribunal is under an obligation to consider pleadings, the facts to be proved by other party besides the affidavit, the other material which can help in assessing the requirement of leading 13/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 evidence and then to decide whether in a given case, the permission to cross examination should be granted or not. The Court observed that the refusal may be in a rare cases, ordinarily, where the question of facts depends on oral testimony, the cross examination of the deponent has to be permitted when demanded.
71. It is true that as per mandate of provisions of Section 21(3) except for the matters specifically specified, the Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal are not bound by the procedure laid down under CPC but, shall be guided by the principle of natural justice and subject to other provisions of the Act or the rules made thereunder, shall have power to regulate their own procedure and for the purpose of discharging their function under the Act. In the considered opinion of this Court, while providing that the Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal shall not be bound by procedure laid down under CPC, the legislature has consciously and purposely incorporated that the proceedings before the Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal shall be guided by principle of natural justice, obviously, for the reason that the observation thereof is considered to be assurance of justice and fairness. It goes without saying that while adjudicating the dispute between the landlord and tenant under the Act of 2001, the Rent Tribunal is 14/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 under an obligation to hear claim and defence of the parties fairly.
72. The Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal are under an obligation to adjudicate the dispute between the parties on question of facts by means of evidence of the parties and with the assistance of arguments by the parties or on behalf of the parties. The question of law arising in the matter is also required to be determined taking into consideration the submissions of the legal arguments advanced by the parties. The adjudication of the dispute by the Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal has to be based on evidence legally adduced and the parties have right to be heard and being represented by the legal practitioner.
73. The final order passed by the Rent Tribunal is subject to appeal before the Appellate Rent Tribunal as provided under Section 19 of the Act of 2001 but, the decision of the Appellate Rent Tribunal by virtue of provisions of sub-section (11)(c) of Section 19, is final and no further appeal or revision lies against its order. However, the Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal are empowered to review their decision. The final order or any other order passed by the Rent Tribunal are executable in the manner provided under Section 20 of the Act of 2001. The one or more modes to be adopted for enforcement of the order by the Rent Tribunal are also not different than the modes provided under CPC for execution of the decree and order.
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74. It is true that as per provisions of the Act of 2001, during the course of hearing of the petition relating to disputes between the landlord and tenant, the Rent Tribunal is required to hold such summary inquiry as it deems necessary but then, merely because, the procedure to be adopted in the trial of the petition filed under the Act of 2001, is summary procedure, an adjudicatory body shall not lose its characteristic of civil Court if it otherwise possesses the same. Certainly, it cannot be accepted that a civil Court trying a summary suit under the provisions of CPC adopting the summary procedure, is not a civil Court in strict sense.
75. In view of the discussion above, we are firmly of the opinion that the Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal constituted under the Act of 2001 for adjudication of the disputes between landlord and tenant and the matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto, sharing the judicial power inherently vested in the State, have all the trappings/attributes of civil Court and the judicial functions discharged by’ them, are akin to the judicial functions discharged by civil Courts.
... ... ...
82. Thus, keeping in view the settled position of law noticed above, the contention raised by the learned counsel that the Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal, presided over by designated officer of the rank of Civil Judge (Sr. Division) and 16/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 District Judge Cadre respectively, being persona designata, could not be construed to be civil Courts, is also devoid of any merit.
... ... ...
85. In the result, we answer the questions referred in terms that the Rent Tribunal and the Appellate Rent Tribunal constituted under the Act of 2001, while adjudicating the disputes between landlord and tenant, exercising the judicial power of the State, discharge judicial functions, which are akin to judicial functions discharged by civil Courts and thus, keeping in view the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in various decisions including in Radhey Shyam and Life Insurance Corporation of India, the judicial orders passed by the Rent Tribunal and the Appellate Rent Tribunal are not amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution and the legality of said judicial orders can only be questioned by invoking power of superintendence of this Court under Article 227 of the Constitution and thus, no intra-Court appeal would be maintainable against the orders passed by the learned Single Judge of this Court in such proceedings.” 17/19 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023 In view of the above settled position of law and the foregoing discussions, this Court is not inclined to entertain this writ petition. The objection raised by the Registry is sustained and this writ petition, which is in SR stage, is rejected.
Index : Yes / No 27.09.2023
NCC : Yes / No
Internet : Yes
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B.PUGALENDHI, J.
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WP(MD)No.SR29763 of 2023
27.09.2023
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