KULDEEP SINGHversusGANPAT LAL AND ANR.

                         KULDEEP SINGH                                         A
                                v.
                       GANPAT LAL AND ANR.

                          NOVEMBER 24, 1995

            [S.C. AGRAWAL AND G.B. PATTANAIK, JJ.]                             B

      Rajasthan Premises (Contract of Rent & Eviction) Act, 195(}-Section
19A (3) and (4)-Tendering of Rent in Court-Validity of-When can be
resorted to--Tenant depositing rent in Court on refusal of landlord to issue
rent receipt-If a valid tender.                                                c
     Rajasthan Premises (Contract of Rent & Eviction) Act, 195(}-Section
19A(l)-Cause of action-When arises.

       Code of Civil Procedure, 1908-0rder 7 Rule 1 (e)-Narration of
particulars about facts constituting the cause of action-Purpose of-Error in   D
indicating the correct date on which cause of action arose-Effect of.

      The respondents filed an eviction suit against the appellant-tenant
under the provisions of the Rajasthan Premises (Contract of Rent &
Eviction) Act, 1950 claiming that the appellant has defaulted in payment       E
of rent due from him for six months.

      Under section 13(1) (a) of the Rajasthan Premises (Contract of Rent
& Eviction) Act, 1950 a tenant was liable to be evicted if he neither paid
nor tendered the amount of rent due for six months. Section 13(6) atlo~ded
protection to the tenant from eviction if the tenant deposited in Court or F
paid to the landlord the amount determined by the Court. If the tenant,
having obtained the benefit of Section 13(6), again defaulted in payment
of rent for six months, the protection under Section 13(6) was not available
to him. Under Section 19-A(3)(c) of the Act, (a) if the rent remitted by the
tenant by postal money order was received back under the postal endor-
sement of refusal or unfound or (b) if the landlord failed to specify the G
bank account number in which rent may be deposited after receiving notice
in writing or (c) where there was a bona fide doubt as to the person to
whom rent is payable, the tenant could deposit the rent with the Court. Ry
Section 19-A(4), a legal fiction was created and the tenant was deemed to
have paid or tendered the amount of rent due from him if the rent was H
                                     655
    656                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1995) SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A   deposited or tendered in accordance with sub-clause (3) of Section 19-A.

          The appellant, after having obtained protection of Section 13(6) of
    the Rajasthan Premises (Contract of Rent & Eviction) Act, 1950 again
    defaulted in payment of rent from May 1, 1982. The appellant claimed that
    he had paid the rent from May 1982 to September 1982 to the respondents
B   but the respondents refused to give him any receipt and instead, returned
    the amount of rent in October, 1982. Thereafter, the appellant alleges that
    he submitted an application under section 19-A of the Act of 1950 and
    deposited the rent for the months May, 1982 to October, 1982 with the
    Court on October 29, 1982.
c         On December 20, 1982 the respondents filed a second suftfor evic-
    tion claiming that the appellant had defaulted in payment of rent for the
    second time from May 1982 to December 1982 and was liable for eviction.
    In para 6 of the plaint, the respondents indicated that the cause of action
    arose on November 1, 1982 when the rent of six months became outstand-
D   ing.

          The Trial Court dismissed the second suit of the respondents on the
    ground that after depositing the rent with the Court on October 29, 1982
    the appellant cannot be held to be a defaulter. On appeal, setting aside the
E   order of Trial Court a Single Judge of the High Court held that the deposit
    in Court was not a valid deposit as the appellant had not followed the
    procedure laid down in Section 19-A(3). The Single Judge also rejected the
    contention of the appellant that the rent for the month of October 1982
    had not become due on November 1, 1982 and cause of action had not
    arisen on November 1, 1982. The special appeal filed by the appellant
F   against the order of the Single Judge was dismissed by the Division Bench
    of the High Court.

            Dismissing the appeal against the order of the Division Bench, this
    Court
G       HELD : 1.1. It is no doubt true that in view of Sub- section (1) of
  Section 19-A of the Rajasthan Premises (Contract of Rent & Eviction) Act,
  1950 since there was no contract prescribing the date for payment of rent,
  the appellant could pay the rent for the month of October, 1982 till Novem·
  her 15, 1982 and the cause of action for filing a.suit on the ground of default
H for the payment of rent for the months of May, 1982 to October, 198~ could
                           KULDEEPSINGHv. GANPATLAL                                 657

      arise only on November 16, 1982 and to that extent the statement in the A
      plaint that the cause of action arose on November 1, 1982 is not correct.
      But the respondent could not be non suited on this ground. [661-B-C]

...         1.2. The objection underlying Order VII Rule (l)(e) of the Code of
      Civil Procedure which requires that the plaint shall contain the particulars
      about the facts constituting the cause of action and when it arose, is to B
      enable the Court to find out whether the plaint discloses the cause of action
      because the plaint is liable to be rejected under order VII Rule 11 of the
      Code of Civil Procedure if it does not disclose the cause of action. The
      purpose behind the requirement that the plaint should indicate when the
      cause of action arose is to help the Court in ascertaining whether the suit          c
      is not barred by limitation. Any error on the part of the plaintiff in
      indicating the date on which the cause of action arose would be of tittle
      consequence if the cause of action had arisen on the date on which the suit
      was filed and the suit was within limitation from the said date. The error
      in mentioning the date on which the cause of action had arisen in the plaint
      in such a case would not disentitle the plaintiff from seeking relief from D
      the Court in the suit. [661-C-E]

            13. In the instant case, the suit was filed on December 20, 1982 on
      which date admittedly the rent for six months i.e. from May, 1982 to
      October, 1982 had fallen due. Merely because in para 6 of the plaint, the            E
      respondents have stated that the cause of action arose on November 1,
      1982 would not disentitle the respondents from seeking relief of eviction
      since as per the plaint, on the date of the filing of the suit the rent for
      seven months (May, 1982 to November, 1982) had fallen due. [661-E-G]

             2.1. It is settled law that a legal fiction is to be limited to the purpose   F
      for which it is created and should not be extended beyond that legitimate
      field. The appellant can avail the benefit of section 19-A(4) of the Rajas-
      than Premises (Contract of Rent & Eviction) Act, 1950 if the deposit of
      rent by him in the Court of Munsif (South), Udaipur, on October 29, 1983,
      can be treated as a payment under Section 19-A(3) (c) so as to enable the
                                                                                           G
      appellant to say that he was not in default in payment of rent. Under
      Section 19-A(3) (c) the tenant can deposit the rent in the Court only if the
      conditions laid down in the said provision are satisfied.

            The Bengal Immunity Company Ltd. v. The State of Bihar & Ors.,
      [1955) 2 SCR 603, relied upon. [664-E-G]                             H
    658                    SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1995) SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A         Duli Chand v. Maman Chand, (1980] 1 SCC 246 and Sheo Narain v.
    Sher Singh, (1980] 1 SCR 836, distinguished.




B
           2.2. It is the admitted case of the appellant that the said conditions
     are not satisfied in the present case. The deposit which was made by the
     respondent in Court on October 29, 1982 cannot, therefore, be regarded
     as a deposit made in accordance with clause (c) of sub-section (3) of
                                                                                     ..
     Section 19-A of the Rajasthan Premises (Contract of Rent & Eviction) Act,
     1950 and the appellant cannot avail the protection of Sub-section (4) of
     Section 19-A and he must be held to have committed default in payment
     of rent for the months of May, 1982 to October, 1982. (664-G~H; 665-A]
c          CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 11242/95.

          From the Judgment and Order dated 8.3.89 of the Rajasthan High
     Court in DB Civil Special Appeal No. 3 of 1989.

D         Rajinder Sachar, D.S. Chauhan, R. Vasudevan and Ms. Anjana
     Gusain for the Appellant.

           G.L. Sanghi, A.P. Dhamija, Sushil Kr. Jain, Vipin Gogia and P.R.
    Jain, for the Respondents.

           The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
E
           S.C. AGRAWAL, J. Leave granted.

          This appeal by the tenant arises out of a suit for eviction filed by the
   respondents under the provisions of the Rajasthan Premises (Control of
F Rent & Eviction) Act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'). It relates
   to a shop situated at Udaipur in Rajasthan. Under Section 13 (l)(a) of
   the Act, the tenant can be evicted from the premises if he has.neither paid
   nor tendered the amount of rent due from him for six months. Sub-section
   (6) of Section 13 affords protection to the tenant from eviction if the tenant
   deposits in Court or pays to the landlord the amount determined by the
G court in terms of sub-sections (3) and (4) of Section 13 of the Act. This
  ·protection is, however, not available if the tenant after having obtained such
   benefit in respect of the premises again makes a default in the payment of
   rent of the said premises for six months. The respondent landlords had
   filed a suit (Suit No. 117 of 1981) against the appellant for his eviction on
H the ground of d\!fault in the paYnient of rent and protection under Section
         KULDEEPSINGHv. GANPATLAL[S.C.AGRAWAL,J.]                    659

13(6) of the Act was given to the appellant in those proceedings. On A
December 20, 1982 the respondents, filed a second suit (Suit No. 169 of
1983) which has given rise to this appeal in the Court of District Judge at
Udaipur for the eviction of the appellant on the ground that he has
defaulted for the second time in payment of rent, inasmuch as he had not
paid the rent for six months from May 1, 1982. The said suit was contested B
by the appellant, who denied that he had committed a second default in
payment of rent for six months. The case of the appellant was that he had
paid the rent for five months from May, 1982 to September, 1982 in cash
to the respondents and 10 days later on October 21, 1982 when he went to
them for collecting the receipt for the said payment, they refused to give C
the said receipt and returned the amount which was paid by the appellant
to the respondents by way of rent. The appellant claims that thereupon on
October 22, 1982, he submitted an application under Section 19-A of the
Act in the Court of Munsif (South), Udaipur narrating the aforesaid facts
and seeking permission of the Court to deposit the rent for the months of
May to October, 1982 in the court and that after obtaining the permission D
of the Court, the appellant on October 29, deposited the sum of Rs. 3600
in the Court by way of rent for the period from May, 1982 to October, 1982
by tender No. 1711 dated October 29, 1982 and that the notice of applica-
tion submitted by the appellant under Section 19-A of the Act had been
issued to the respondents. The said suit of the respondents was dismissed E
by the Additional District Judge No. 1. Udaipur by his judgment dated July
2, 1987 on the view that the appellant could not be held to be a defaulter
in the payment of rent since he had deposited the rent for the months of
May, 1982 to October, 1982 in the Court on 29th October, 1982 before the
rent for six months fell due. The respondents filed an appeal against the
said judgment of the Addi. District Judge in the High Court of Rajasthan.
                                                                            F
The said appeal was allowed by a learned Single Judge of the High Court
by his judgment dated January 25, 1989. The learned Judge, after consider-
ing the evidence adduced by the appellant, has held that his plea about
payment of rent personally to the respondents had no legs to stand. The
learned Judge further held that the deposit by the appellant in the Court G
under Section 19-A of fhe Act was not a valid deposit and the appellant
could not claim any benefit on the basis of the said deposit under Section
19-A inasmuch as the appellant had not adopted the procedure as laid
down in sub-section (3) of Section 19-A before making the said deposit
and that the appellant had committed a second default in payment of rent H
    660                    SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1995) SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A for six months. The learned Single Judge rejected the contention urged on
  behalf of the appellant that the cause of action had not arisen on November
  1, 1982 because the rent for the month of October could have been paid
  by November 15 and that on November 1, 1982 the rent for five months
  only was due and not for six month. The learned single Judge had held that
B the rent for a particular month becomes due as soon as the month ends
  and under provisions of the Act it was made payable by a particular date,
  i.e. the 15th of next following month, but it was only a facility provided to
  the tenant to pay the rent by that date it does not mean that the rent for
  the month of October had not become due on November 1, 1982. The
  special appeal filed by the appellant against the said judgment of the
C learned Single Judge was dismissed by the Division Bench of the High
  Court by the impugned judgment dated March 8, 1989. Hence, this appeal.

          Shri Rajinder Sachar, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the
    appellant, has, in the first place; invited our attention to para 6 of the plaint,
D   wherein the respondents have stated :

             "6. That the cause of action for the suit arose on 1.11.1982 when
             the rent of six months became outstanding."

    The submission of Shri Sachar is that in view of Clause (e) or Rule 1 of
E   Order VII of the Code of Civil Procedure, it was incumbent upon the
    respondents to set out in the plaint the facts constituting the cause of action
    and when it arose and as per the said requirement the respondents, in para
    6 of the plaint, have indicated that the cause of action arose on November,
    1, 1982. Shri Sachar has submitted that he said statement in para 6 of the
F   plaint is not correct and has pointed out that under sub-section {1) of
    Section 19-A of the Act, it is provided:

             "{1) Subject to the provisions of this section, every tenant shall pay
             rent within the time fixed by contract or in the absence of such
             contract, by the fifteenth day of the month next following the month
G            for which it is payable."

    According to Shri Sachar, since no time was fixed for payment of rent by
    contract, the rent was payable by the appellant by the 15th day of the
    month next following the month for which it was payable and the rent for
H   the month of October, 1982 was therefore, payable by November 15, 1982
         KULDEEPSINGHv. GANPATLAL[S.C.AGRAWAL,J.)                     661

and that on November, 1, 1982 the rent for October, 1982 was not due and A
therefore, it could not be said that on November 1, 1982, when the cause
of action is claimed to have arisen, the appellant was in default of payment
of rent for six months. It is no doubt true that in view of sub-section (1) of
Section 19-A of the Act, since there was no contract prescribing the date
for payment of rent, the appellant could pay the rent for the month of B
October, 1982 till November 15, 1982 and the cause of action for filing a
suit on the ground of default for the payment of rent for the months of
May, 1982 to October, 1982 could arise only on November 16, 1982 and to
that extent and the statement in the plaint that the cause of action arose
on November 1, 1982 is not correct. But that does not mean that the
respondents must be non-suited on this ground. The object underlying C
Order VII Rule (l)(e) which requires that the plaint shall contain the
particulars about the facts constituting the cause of action and when it
arose, is to enable the Court to find out whether the plaint discloses the
cause of action because the plaint is liable to be rejected under Order VII
Rule 11 CPC if it does not disclose the cause of action. The purpose behind D
the requirement that the plaint should indicate when the cause of action
arose is to help the Court in ascertaining whether the suit is not barred by
limitation. Any error on the part of the plaintiff in indicating the date on
which the cause of action arose would be of little consequence if the cause
of action had arisen on the date on which the suit was filed and the suit
was within limitation from the said date. The error in mentioning the date E
on which the cause of action had arisen in the plaint in such a case would
not disentitle the plaintiff from seeking relief from the Court in the suit. In
the instant case, the suit was filed on December 20, 1982 on which date
admittedly the rent for six months i.e. from May, 1982 to October, 1982
had fallen due. Moreover, in para 7 of the plaint, while indicating the p
valuation of the suit for the purpose of court fee, the respondents have
stated that there was outstanding rent of 7 months amounting to Rs. 4,200
and court fee was paid on the said amount of outstanding rent. Merely
because in para 6 of the plaint, the respondents have stated that the cause
of action arose on November 1, 1982 would not, in our opinion, disentitle
the respondents from seeking relief of eviction since as per the plaint, on G
the date of the filing of the suit the rent for seven months (May, 1982 to
November, 1982) had fallen due. The first contention urged by Shri Sachar
cannot, therefore be accepted.

      The next contention urged by Shri Sachar relates to the deposit of    H
    662                  SUPREME COURT REPORTS, [1995] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A   the sum of Rs. 3,600 by the appellant in the Court on 29th October, 1982
    under Section 19-A of the Act. For that purpose, it-is necessary to take
    note of the relevant provisions contained in sub-sections (3) and (4) of
    Section 19-A, which provide as under :

            "(3) A tenant may, apart from personal payment of rent to the
B           landlord, remit or deposit rent by any of the following methods -

              (a) he may remit the amount of any rent due from him by postal
            money order at the ordinary address of the landlord; or

                (b) he may, by notice in writing, require the landlord to specify
c           within ten days from the date of receipt of the notice by the latter,
            a bank and account number into which the rent may be deposited
            by the tenant to the credit of the landlord. If the landlord specifies
            a bank and account number, the tenant shall deposit the rent in
            such bank and account number and shall continue to deposit in it
D           any rent which may subsequently become due in respect of the
            premises:

               Provided that such bank shall be one situated in the city or
            town in which the premises is situated :

E              Provided further that it shall be open to the landlord to specify
            from time to time by a written notice to the tenant and subject to
            the proviso aforesaid, a bank different from the one already _
            specified by him under this clause :

                 (c) Where he has remitted the rent by .postal money order
F            under clause-(a) and the money order is received back by him
             under a postal endorsement of refusal or unfound and where the
             landlord does not specify a bank and account number under clause
             (b) or where there is bona fide doubt as to the person or persons
             to whom the rent is payable, the tenant may deposit such rent with
             the Court within fifteen days of the expiry of the period of ten days
G
             referred to in clause (b) and in the case of such bona fide doubt
             as aforesaid, within fifteen days of the time referred to in sub-
             section (1) and further continue to deposit with the Court any rent
           · which may subsequently become due in respect of the premises.

H           (4) For the purpose of clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 13,
          KULDEEPSINGHv. GANPATLAL[S.C.AGRAWAL,J.)                       663

         a tenant shall be deemed to have paid or tendered the amount of A
         any rent due from him, if he has paid, remitted or deposited
         the amount of rent by any of the methods specified in sub-section
         (3)."

Under sub-section (3), apart from personal payment of rent to the
landlord, three other modes have been prescribed, namely, (i) remittance B
by postal money order at the ordinary address of the landlord, (ii) deposit
in the bank account of the landlord and (iii) deposit in Court in cases
where the money order has been received back under the postal endorse- ·
ment of refusal or unfound or whether the landlord does not specify the
bank account number or where there is a bona fide doubt that the person C
or persons to whom the rent is payable. Under Sub-section (4), a legal
fiction is created and the tenant is deemed to have paid or tendered the
amount of rent due from him and is not to be treated in default of payment
of rent if he has paid, remitted or deposited the amount of rent by any of
the three methods specified in sub-section (3).
                                                                                D
         The High Court has held that in view of the language of Clause (c)
  of sub-section (3) of Section 19-A, a deposit in the court can be made only
  if the conditions laid down in clause (c) are fulfilled and if the said
  conditions are not fulfilled, the deposit would not be treated as a valid
  deposit under Clause (c) of sub-section (3) of Section 19-A and would not E
  entitled the tenant to avail the benefit of sub-section (4) of Section 19-A.
  It has been held that in the instant case, it is not the case of the appellant
  that he had remitted the amount of rent due from him by postal money
  order and the same had been received back by him under the postal
  endorsement of refusal or unfound, nor is it the case of the appellant that
  he had asked the respondents to indicate the bank account number in . F
  which the rent may be deposited by the appellant to the credit of the
  respondents and the respondents had failed to specify the bank and
. account number and that it is also not the case of the appellant that there
  was a bona fide doubt as to the person or persons to whom the rent was
  payable.
                                                                                G
        Shri Sachar does not dispute that the conditions prescribed in clause
 (c) of sub-section (3) of Section 19-A for the purpose of making the deposit
 in Court are not fulfilled in the present case. The submission of Shri
 Sachar, however, is that since the appellant had deposited in Court the rent
 for the months of May, 1982 to October, 1982 on 29th October, 1982,            H
    664                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1995] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A before the said rent for six months fell due, he cannot be held to be a
    defaulter in payment of rent for six months and a decree for eviction under
    section 13 (l)(a) could not be passed. Shri Sachar has, in this connection,
    placed reliance on the decisions of this Court in Duli Chand v. Maman
    Chand, [1980] 1 SCC 246 and Slteo Narain v. Sher Singh, [1980] 1 SCR 836.
B         We have carefully perused the said judgments. Both these judgments
    relate to the proviso to section 13(2)(i) of the East Punjab Urban Rent
    Restriction Act, 1949 which affords protection against eviction of the
    tenant if on the first hearing on the application for ejectment after due
    service he pays or tenders the arrears of rent and interest at six per cent
C   per annum on such arrears together with the cost of application assessed
    by the Controller. In both these cases, the tenant had deposited the amount
    of rent in the Court in which the ejectment proceedings were pending prior
    to the first hearing of the application and on the first hearing the landlord
    was made aware of the deposit. This Court has held that even though there
D   was no provision in the Act for deposit of the rent in Court the said deposit
    could be treated as compliance of the requirements of the proviso to
    section 13 (2) (i) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 and
    the tenant was entitled to avail the benefit of the said proviso.


E          In the present case, the appellant is seeking to avail the benefit of
    the legal fiction under Section 19-A(4) of the Act. It is settled law that a
    legal fiction is to be limited to the purpose for which it is created and
    should not be extended beyond that legitimate field. [See : The Bengal
    Immunity Company Limited v. 17ie State of Bi/tar & Ors., [1955] 2 SCR 603
    at p. 646]. The appellant can avail the benefit of Section 19-A(4) if the
F   deposit of Rs. 3,600 made by him in the Court of Munsiff (South), Udaipur,
    on October 29, 1982, by way of rent for the months of May, 1982 to
    October, 1982, can be treated as a payment under section 19-A (3) ·(c) so
    as to enable the appellant to say that he was not in default in payment of
    rent. Under Section 19-A(3) (c) the tenant can deposit the rent in the
G   Court only if the conditions laid down in the said provision are satisfied.
    It is th~ admitted case of the appellant that these conditions are not
    satisfied in the present case. The deposit which was made by the respon-
    dent in Court on October 29, 1982 cannot, therefore, be regarded as a
    deposit made in accordance with clause (c) of Sub-section (3) of section
H   19-A and the appellant cannot avail the prctection of sub-section (4) of
              KULDEEPSINGHv. GANPATLAL[S.C.AGRAWAL,J.]                       665

      Section 19-A and he must be held to have committed default in payment A
      of rent for the months of May, 1982 to October, 1982. This means that the
      decree for eviction has been rightly passed against the appellant on account
    . of default in payment of rent for the period of six months.

           For the reasons aforementioned, the appeal_ f~ls and it is accordingly   B
     dismissed. But in the circumstances, there is no order as to costs.

     B.K.M.                                                   Appeal dismissed.




•