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3. The Courts below, in the above circumstances, have admitted service of notice upon all the defendants sufficient and in absence of anything to discredit or dislodge the aforesaid service on the mere affidavit, petitioner tried to dispute service which has not been believed by both the Courts below. Besides other, the Courts have also followed general principle that in the matter of dispute between landlord and tenants, where, after death of initial tenant, tenancy rights are devolved in all legal heirs, they are co tenants. Service of notice of proceedings upon a co-tenant shall be service upon all the co-tenants and neither it is necessary to implead all the co-tenants nor in the matter of service, if one is served, proceedings will be bad for non service of notice upon the others.

4. Law on this subject is no more res integra having been settled in catena of decisions. When an accommodation is under tenancy of an individual, on his death, the tenancy rights devolve on all the legal heirs of principal tenant and they would hold the tenancy as "joint tenants". The meaning of "joint tenancy" means all the legal heirs would constitute a single unit of tenancy. This is what has been held by the Apex Court in Kanji Manji Vs. Trustees of the Port of Bombay, AIR 1963 SC 468. Again in H.C.Pandey Vs. G.C.Paul (supra) the Court in para 4 of the judgment said :

"It is now well settled that on the death of the original tenant, subject to any provision to the contrary either negativing or limiting the succession, the tenancy rights devolve on the heirs of the deceased tenant. The incidence of the tenancy are the same as those enjoyed by the original tenant. It is a single tenancy which devolves on the heirs. There is no division of the premises or of the rent payable therefore. That is the position as between the landlord and the heirs of the deceased tenant. In other words, the heirs succeed to the tenancy as joint tenants. In the present case it appears that the respondent acted on behalf of the tenants, that he paid rent on behalf of all and he accepted notice also on behalf of all."

5. There appears to be an otherwise view taken in another decision in Mohd. Azeem Vs. District Judge, Aligarh and others, 1985 (2) ARC 85 (SC) holding that death of tenant would result in conferring tenancy rights as "tenants in common" to the legal heirs. The matter was considered by a Larger Bench of Three Judges of Apex Court in Harish Tandon (supra) and the Court affirmed the view taken in H.C.Pandey (supra) and said in para 24:

"It appears to us, in the case of H.C.Pandey v. G.C. Paul (supra), it was rightly said by this Court that after the death of the original tenant, subject to any provision to the contrary, the tenancy rights devolve on the heirs of the deceased tenants jointly. The incidence of the tenancy are the same as those enjoyed by the original tenant. It is a single tenancy which devolves on the heirs and there is no division of the premises or of the rent payable therefor and the heirs succeed to the tenancy as joint tenants."