Holding

An appeal under Section 20 may be filed without payment or deposit of arrears; the payment is not a condition precedent for filing the appeal, though the appellate authority may defer hearing or interim relief until arrears are paid.

Summary

The landlord filed an eviction petition under Section 12 of the Tripura Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1975 alleging non‑payment of rent and a bona‑fide requirement. The Rent Control Court found the tenants in arrears and ordered eviction; the tenants’ appeal under Section 20 was dismissed by the Civil Judge because they had not deposited the arrears as required by Section 13(1). A revision petition was allowed by the District Judge, but the High Court held that an appeal could not be filed unless the arrears were paid or deposited. The Supreme Court examined whether payment of arrears is a condition precedent to "prefer an appeal" under Section 20. Reading Sections 13 and 20 together, the Court held that an appeal may be filed without payment, though the appellate authority may withhold hearing or interim relief until the arrears are paid. Consequently, the High Court’s view was set aside and the matter remanded for fresh consideration, and the appeal was disposed of in accordance with the District Judge’s directions.

Issues considered

Whether an appeal under Section 20 of the Tripura Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1975 can be filed without payment or deposit of all arrears of rent admitted by the tenant, i.e., whether such payment is a condition precedent to preferring an appeal.

Legislation cited

Income Tax Acts. 245, s. 253
Tripura Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1975s. 12, s. 13(1), s. 13(2), s. 13(3), s. 13(4), s. 20

Subjects

Rent controlEvictionAppealCondition precedentTripura Buildings ActSection 13Section 20Deposit of arrearsStatutory interpretation

Judgment

., MANIK LAL MAJUMDAR AND ORS. A
' h
v.
GOURANGA CHANDRA DEY AND ORS.

JANUARY 12, 2005

[R.C. LAHOTI, CJ., G.P. MATHUR AND B
P.K. BALASUBRAMANY AN, JJ.]

-4

Rent, Control and eviction:

Tripura Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1975-Sections 20, c
13(/),(2), (3), 12-Eviction on the ground of non payment of rent-Appeal
against, preferred without deposit of arrears of admitted rent-Mdntainability
of-Held, maintainable-Conjoint reading of all provisions of the Act shows
that deposit of admitted rent is not a pre-condition for mere filing or
presentation of memorandum ofappeal-Tenant may have sufficient cause for D
his failure and must be given opportunity to explain the same-It is open to
the appellate authority not to proceed with the hearing of the appeal or to
' pass any interim order infavour of the tenant until he has paid or deposited
"' all arrears of rent admitted by him to be due.

Interpretation of statute-Intention of the legislature to be found by E
reading the statute as a whole-In order to ascertain the meaning of a clause
in a statute, the court to look at the whole statute, at what precedes and what
succeeds and not merely the clause itself

Words and phrases- 'Prefer an appeal'-Meaning of in the context of
S.13(/) of Tripura Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1975. F
..t:
Respondent-Landlord had filed eviction petition against appellant-
tenant on the ground of non payment of rent and bonafide requirement.
Rent Control Court held that appellant was defaulter in payment of rent
and ordered eviction. First appellate Court dismissed tenant's appeal.
District Judge, however allowed revision and remanded matter for fresh G
consideration.

On a writ petition filed by respondent, High Court held that appeal
against an eviction order under S.12 was not competent unless provisions
437 H
438 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2005] I S.C.R.

A of S.13(1) were complied with. Thereafter appellant preferred Special
Leave Petition which was heard by two Judges and in view of difference
of opinion between them, matter came up before the three Judges Bench.

Appellant contended that mere filing of the appeal without payment
or making the deposit by itself does not cause any prejudice to the landlord
B inasmuch as it will always be open to the appellate authority not to proceed
with the hearing of the appeal or not to pass any interim order in favour
of the tenant-appellant until the requisite payment or deposit has been
made.

Respondent contended that on a plain language of the Act, the
C payment or deposit of admitted amount of rent by the tenant is a condition
precedent for preferring an appeal and in absence of such payment or
deposit, the appeal would be incompetent and is liable to be rejected.

Disposing of the appeal, the Court
D HELD: I. The view taken by appellate authority that as the appellant
had not paid or deposited all arrears of rent admitted by him to be c!ue
the appeal filed by him was incompetent is unsustainable. [448-FJ

2.1. Sub-section (1) of Section 13 of Tripura Buildings (Lease and
E Rent Control) Act, 1975 lays down that any tenant against whom an
application for eviction has been made by a landlord shall not be entitled
to contest the application or to prefer an appeal under Section 20 unless
he makes payment of all arrears of admitted rent. The object of sub-section
(I) of Section 13 of the Act is to avoid litigation for realization of arrears
of rent which is likely to accumulate during the course of litigation, which
F may be a long period and also to deter the tenant from resorting to an
unfair practice to use and occupy the tenanted premises without payment
of any rent so long as the litigation continues. (445-C, Fl

2.2. The expression "all arrears of rent admitted by the tenant to be
due", if interpreted literally, would mean that unless the tenant specifically
G admi.ts any arrears of rent due to the landlord, the condition to make the
payment of arrears of rent in order to contest the original proceedings
before the Rent Control Court or to prefer an appeal as provided under
Section 13 of the Act would not arise. If the material on record prima facie
discloses the admission of relationship of landlord and tenant and the rate
H of monthly rent payable, the tenant would be required to pay or deposit
M.L. MAJUMDAR v. G.C. DEY 439
t..>. arrears of rent and continue payment of current rent during the pendency A
of the litigation, as enjoined under Section 13 of the Act. [445-D-E, GI

Binapani Roy and Ors. v. State of Tripura and Ors., [1994[ 1 GLR 98,
approved.

Chinnamma v. Gopalan and Ors., (1995[ 6 SCC 491, referred to. B
2.3. Sub-section (3) of Section 13 lays down that if any tenant fails
to pay or deposit the rent as provided in sub-section (1 ), the Rent Control
Court or the appellate authority, as the case may be, shall, unless the
tenant shows sufficient cause to the contrary, stop all further proceedings
and make an order directing the tenant to put the landlord in possession C
of the building. However, a discretion has been conferred upon the Rent
Control Court or the appellate authority not to pass such an order, if the
tenant shows sufficient cause for not having complied with the requirement
of deposit. (446-D, F)

3.1. It is a well-settled principle that the intention of the legislature D
must be found by reading the statute as a whole and in order to ascertain
the meaning of a clause in a statute, the court must look at the whole
statute, at what precedes and what succeeds and not merely the clause·
itself. Therefore, it ·is necessary to give full meaning and effect to the
provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3) of Section 13 of the Act. The full E
play and effect cannot be given to sub-sections (2) and (3) of Section 13 of
the Act if the expression "prefer an appeal" is interpreted to mean that
the payment to the landlord or deposit with the Rent Control Court of all
arrears of rent admitted by the tenant to be due is a pre-condition for
filing a memorandum of appeal. However, if such payment or deposit of
arrears of admitted rent is not held to be a pre-condition for mere filing F
~ or presentation of memorandum of appeal, it will be possible for the
appellate authority to give full effect to sub-sections (2) & (3) of Section
13 of the Act. [446-H; 447-A, C-DI

State of West Bengal v. Union of India, AIR (1963) SC 1241 and R.S. G
Raghunath v. State of Karnataka, AIR (1992) SC 81, relied on.

Commissioner of Income Tax v. B.N. Bhattacharjee, AIR (1979) SC
1725, referred to.

3.2. If the expression "prefer an appeal" occurring in sub-section (1) H
~
I

440 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2005] I S.C.R.

A of Section 13 of the Act is interpreted to mean the mere filing of a
memorandum of appeal, it may also result in extreme hardship to the
tenant or even make the provisions of Section 20 regarding an appeal
against the order of Rent Control Court nugatory in some cases. In such
situation, if tenant, on account of some personal difficulty or problem is
B not able to deposit all arrears of rent admitted by him to be due within
the stipulated time, he may be precluded from challenging the order of
Rent Control Court as the memorandum of appeal filed by him without
making payment or deposit of arrears of rent would be liable to be rejected
straightaway. (44"7-H; 448-A, q

C 4. On a conjoint reading of all the provisions of the Act and giving
a fair and reasonable interpretation thereto an appeal under Section 20
of the Act may be filed or presented without payment to the landlord or
deposit with the appellate authority all arrears of rent admitted by the
tenant to be due and it cannot be held to be incompetent. However, it will
be open to the appellate authority not to proceed with the hearing of the
D appeal or to pass any interim order in favour of the appellant-tenant until
he has paid or deposited all arrears of rent admitted by him to be due,
and for such purposes the appellate authority shall have all the powers r
under sub-sections (2) and (3) of Section 13 of the Act. The view taken by
appellate authority that as tenant had not paid or deposited arrears of
E rent admitted by him to be due, the appeal filed by him was incompetent,
was rightly set aside by revisional authority and remanded back for
reconsideration. (448-D, E, Fl

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 7253 of2002.

F From the Judgment and Order dated 21.6.2002 of the Gauhati High
Court at Agartala Bench in C.R. No. 466 of 1997.

A.K. Ganguli, Avijit Bhattacharjee and Atanu Saikia for the Appellants.

Rajiv Mehta for the Respondents.

G The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

G.P. MATHUR, J. I. In view of difference of opinion between two
learned Judges, the present appeal was placed for hearing before this larger
Bench and the issue involved is whether an appeal. preferred under Section
H 20 of the Tripura Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1975 (hereinafter
M.L. MAJUMDAR v. G.C. DEY [ G.P. MATHUR, l] 441
referred to as 'the Act') without payment to the landlord or deposit with the A
appellate court all arrears of rent admitted by the tenant to be due is not
maintainable and is liable to be rejected on that ground alone.

2. Respondent No. 1 - Gouranga Chandra Dey filed an eviction petition
under Section 12 of the Act on the ground of bona fide requirement and also
default in payment of rent. The appellant-tenant contested the petition taking B
various pleas. The Rent Control Court, after appraisal of evidence on record,
recorded a finding that the plea raised by the landlord regarding bona fide
requirement of the premises was not established, but the appellants were
defaulters in payment of rent and accordingly passed an order directing their
eviction and for handing over possession of the premises in question to C
respondent No. I. The appellants preferred an appeal against the decision of
the Rent Control Court, but the same was dismissed by Civil Judge (Senior
Division), West Tripura, on the ground that as the appellants had failed to
deposit the arrears of rent as directed by the Rent Control Court, the appeal
preferred by them was not maintainable in view of Section 13(1) of the Act.
Thereafter the appellants preferred a Revision Petition before the District D
Judge which was allowed and the order of Civil Judge (Senior Division) was
set aside and the appeal was remanded for consideration on merits. Feeling
... aggrieved, respondent No. I filed a petition under Article 226 of the
Constitution before the Gauhati High Court. The learned Single Judge who
heard the petition was of the opinion that in view of the decision of the E
Supreme Court in Chinnamma v. Gopalan and Ors., (1995] 6 SCC 491 an
earlier Division Bench decision of Gauhati High Court in Binapani Roy and
Ors. v. State of Tripura and Ors., (1994) I GLR 98 required reconsideration
by a larger Bench. Thereafter the petition was heard by a Division Bench
which came to the conclusion that the decision of this Court in Chanr.amma
v. Gopa/an and Ors., (supra) did not touch the controversy in dispute and F
accordingly the earlier decision rendered by the said High Court in Binapani
Roy's case (supra) did not require reconsideration. It was further held that an
appeal against an order under Section 12 of the Act was not competent unless
the provisions of Section 13(1) of the Act were complied with and, accordingly,
the reference to the larger Bench made by the learned Single Judge was G
declined leaving the matter to be heard on merits by the learned Single
Judge.

3. The appellants filed a Special Leave Petition against the decision of
the High Court which, after grant of leave, was heard by a bench of two
learned Judges. Shivaraj v. Patil, J held that in view of Section 13(1) of the H
442 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2005) I S.C.R.

A Act, before a tenant prefers an appeal under Section 20 against an order of
eviction made against him under Section 12 of the Act, he must either pay
to the landlord or deposit with the Rent Control Court all arrears of rent in
view of explicit language used in Section 13(1) of the Act. However, D.M.
Dharmadhikari, J. held that a tenant can file or present a memorandum of
B appeal in accordance with sub-section (I) of Section 20 of the Act, but until
and unless he seeks an order from the appellate authority in accordance with
sub-section (2) of Section 13 and makes deposit of all arrears of rent and
continues to pay future rent in the manner and within the time directed by the
appellate authority, he would not be entitled to prosecute the appeal and
obtain any interim or final relief against the order of the Rent Control Court
C as is contemplated in sub-sections (2) & (3) respectively of the said Section.

4. In order to appreciate the contentions raised by learned counsel for
the parties, it will be convenient to set out Sections 13 and 20 of the Act
which are relevant for the decision of the controversy.

D "Section 13(1): No tenant against whom an application for eviction
has been made by a landlord under section 12 shall be entitled to
contest the application before the Rent Control Court under that section,
or to prefer an appeal under section 20 against any order made by the
Rent Control Court on the application, unless he has paid or pays to
..
the landlord, or deposits with the Rent Control Court or the appellate
E authority, as the case may be, all arrears of rent admitted by the
tenant to be due, in respect of the building up to the date of payment
or deposit, and continues to pay or to deposit any rent which may
subsequently become due in respect of the building, until the
termination of the proceedings before the Rent Control Court or the
F appellate authority, as the case may be.

(2) The deposit under sub-section (I) shall be made within such time
as the Rent Control Court may fix and in such manner as may be
prescribed and shall be accompanied by the fee prescribed for the
service of notice referred to in sub-section (4).
G Provided that the time fixed by the Rent Control Court for the
deposit of the arrears of rent shall not be less than forty five days
from the date of the order and the time fixed for the deposit of rent
which subsequently accrues due shall not be less than two weeks
from the date on which the rent becomes due.
H
M.L. MAJUMDAR v. G.C. DEY [ G.P. MATHUR, J.) 443
(3) If any tenant fails to pay or to deposit the rent as aforesaid, the A
Rent Control Court or the appellate authority, as the case may be,
shall, unless the tenant shows sufficient cause to the contrary, stop all
further proceedings and make an order directing the tenant to put the
landlord in possession of the building.

(4) When any deposit is made under sub-section(!), the Rent Control B
Court or the appellate authority, as the case may be, shall cause
notice of the deposit to be served on the landlord in the prescribed
manner, and the amount deposited may, subject to such conditions as
may be prescribed, be withdrawn by the landlord on application made
by him to the Rent Control Court or the appellate authority in that C
behalf.

Section 20(l)(a) : The State Government may, by general or special
order notified in the Official Gazette, confer on such officers and
authorities not below the rank of a subordinate judge the powers of
appellate authorities for the purposes of this Act in such areas or in D
such classes as may be specified in the order.

(b) Any person aggrieved by an order passed by the Rent Control
Court may, within thirty days from the date of such order, prefer an
appeal in writing to the appellate authority having jurisdiction.
E
Note : In computing the thirty days in this clause, the time taken to
obtain a certified copy of the order appealed against shall be excluded.

(2) On such appeal being preferred, the appellate authority may order
stay of further proceedings in the matter pending decision on the
appeal. F
(3) The appellate authority shall call for the records of the case from
Rent Control Court and after giving the parties an opportunity of
being heard, and if necessary, after making such further inquiry as it
thinks fit, either directly or through the Rent Control Court, shall
decide the appeal. G
Explanation : The appellate authority may, while confirming the order
..,,. of eviction passed by the Rent Control Court, grant an extension of
time to the tenant for putting the landlord in possession of the building.

(4) The appellate authority shall have all the powers of the Rent H
444 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2005] 1 S.C.R.

A Control Court including the fixing of arrears of rent.

(5) The decision of the appellate authority, and subject to such
decision, an order of the Rent Control Court shall be final and shall
not be liable to be called in question in any court of law, except as
provided in Section 22."
B
5. Shri A.K. Ganguli, learned senior counsel fo: the appellants has
submitted that Section 20 of the Act which is a provision for preferring an
appeal against the order of the Rent Control Court does not lay down that
payment or deposit of all admitted arrears of rent is a condition precedent for
C preferring an appeal. In view of the clear mandate of sub-section (4) of
Section 20 that the appellate court shall have all the power of Rent Control
Court including fixing of arrears of rent, and having regard to the scheme
contained in sub-sections (2) & (3) of Section 13 of the Act, the appellate
authority can not only quantify the arrears of rent, but also the time limit for
depositing the same. The appellate authority has been expressly conferred
D power under sub-section (3) of Section 13 to grant further time or to condone
the default in making the deposit on sufficient cause being shown and,
therefore, an appeal preferred without making the requisite deposit cannot be
held to be not maintainable and is not liable to be rejected straightaway on
that ground alone. Learned counsel has also submitted that the mere filing of
E the appeal without payment or making the deposit by itself does not cause
any prejudice to the landlord inasmuch as it will always be open to the
appellate authority not to proceed with the hearing of the appeal or to pass
any interim order in favour of the tenant-appellant until the requisite payment
or deposit has been made. Learned counsel for the respondent(landlord) has,
on the other hand, submitted that no litigant has any inherent right of appeal
F in any cause. The right of appeal is a creature of the statute and it is always
open to the legislature to provide or lay down the condition subject to which
alone an appeal may be preferred. In this connection learned counsel has
drawn analogy from some taxing statutes which require deposit of admitted
amount of tax and also Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act for entertaining
G the appeal. He has further submitted that the language of the statute is clear
and unambiguous and on a plain language thereof, the payment or deposit of
admitted amount of rent by the tenant is a condition precedent for preferring
an appeal and in absence of such payment or deposit, the appeal would be
incompetent and is liable to be rejected.
H
M.L. MA.I UM DAR v. G.C. DEY [ G.P. MATHUR . .I.] 445

6. Clause (b) of sub-section (I) of Section 20 provides that any person A
aggrieved by an order passed by the Rent Control Court may, within thirty
days from the date of such order, prefer an appeal in writing to the appellate
authority having jurisdiction. Sub-section (4) of Section 20 specifically
provides that the appellate authority shall have all the powers of the Rent
Control Court including the fixing of arrears of rent. Section 13 is a general B
provision which applies both during the pendency of eviction proceedings
under Section 12 of the Act before the Rent Control Court and also to
proceedings before an appellate authority in an appeJI u:ider Section 20 of
the Act. Sub-section (I) of Section 13 lays down that any tenant against
whom an application for eviction has been made by a landlord shall not be
entitled to contest the application before the Rent Control Court or to prefer C
an appeal under Section 20 against any order made by the said Court unless
he has paid or pays to the landlord or deposits with the Rent Control Court
or the appellate authority, as the case may be, all arrears of rent, admitted by
the tenant to be due and continues to pay or deposit any rent which may
subsequently become due in respect of the building in question until the D
termination of the proceedings before the Rent Control Court or the appellate
authority, as the case may be. The expression "all arrears of rent admitted by
...
.'
the tenant to be due", if interpreted literally, would mean that unless the
tenant specifically admits any arrears of rent to be due to the landlord, the
condition to make the payment of arrears of rent in order to contest the
original proceedings before the Rent Control Court or to prefer an appeal as E
provided under Section 13 of the Act would not arise. The High Court in
Binapani Roy's case (supra) has held that giving literal meaning to the words
" admitted by the tenant to be due" would frustrate the provisions of Section
13 of the Act and make the same nugatory or otiose. The object of sub-
section (1) of Section 13 of the Act is to avoid litigation for realization of F
arrears of rent which is likely to accumulate during the course of litigation,
which may be a long period and also to deter the tenant from resorting to an
unfair practice to use and occupy the tenanted premises without payment of
any rent so long as the litigation continues. The High Court was of the
opinion that the reasonable meaning of the words "admitted by the tenant to
be due" is the inference of admission from the material on record. If the G
material on record prima facie discloses the admission of relationship of
landlord and tenant and the rate of monthly rent payable, the tenarit would
be required to pay or deposit arrears of rent and continue payment of current
rent during the pendency of the litigation, as enjoined under Section 13 of the
Act. Dharmadhikari, J. has expressed his concurrence with the aforesaid view H
446 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2005] I S.C.R.

A taken by the Division Bench of the Gauhati High Court in the case of Binapani
Roy (supra). We are also of the opinion that the view taken by the Division
Bench of the High Court on this point is perfectly sound as giving a literal
meaning to the expression "all arrears of rent admitted by the tenant to be
due" may defeat the very object of enacting Section 13 of the Act and an
B unscrupulous tenant may continue to enjoy the premises without payment of
any rent to the landlord by protracting the litigation and the landlord may
have to wait till the final decision of the case to recover his dues by taking
execution proceedings.

7. Sub-section (2) of Section 13 provides that a deposit under sub-
C section ( 1) shall be made within such time as the Rent Control Court may fix.
The proviso appended to this sub-section shows that the time fixed by the
Rent Control Court for the deposit of arrears of rent shall be within forty five
days from the date of the order and the time fixed for the deposit of rent
which subsequently accrues due shall not be less than two weeks from the
date on which the rent becomes due. Sub-section (3) of Section 13 lays down
D that if any tenant fails to pay or to deposit the rent as provided in sub-section
(!), the Rent Control Court or the appellate authority, as the case may be,
shall, unless the tenant shows sufficient cause to the contrary, stop all further .
proceedings and make an order directing the tenant to put the landlord in
possession of the building. The effect of sub-section (3) therefore, is that if ' '
E the tenant does not comply with the requirement of sub-section (I) the Rent
Control Court or the appellate authority as the case may be, shall stop further
proceedings and direct the tenant to put the landlord in possession of the
building. However, a discretion has been conferred upon the Rent Control
Court or the appellate authority not to pass such an order i.e. of stoppin~.
further proceedings and directing the tenant to put the landlord in possession
F of the building, if the tenant shows sufficient cause for not having complied
with the requirement of sub-section (1) of Section 13 of the Act. It may be
noticed that the legislature has made a specific provision by enacting sub-
section (4) of Section 20 of the Act, namely, that the appellate authority shall
have all the powers of the Rent Control Court including fixing of arrears of
G rent. Though the sub-section is couched in wide language conferring all the
powers of Rent Control Court upon the appellate authority, still the legislature
consciously and deliberately has added the words "including the fixing of
arrears of rent''. The expression "arrears of rent" finds place in sub-section
(I) of Section 13 of the Act and is clearly referable to the said provision.

H 8. It is a well-settled principle that the intention of the legislature must
M.L. MAJUMDAR v. G.C. DEY [ G.P. MA THUR. J.] 44 7

•· /- be found by reading the statute as a whole and in order to ascertain the A
meaning of a clause in a statute, the court must look at the whole statute, at
what precedes and what succeeds and not merely the clause itself. The court
must ascertain the intention of the legislature by directing its attention not
merely to the clauses to be construed, but to the entire statute; it must compare
the clause with the other parts of the law and the setting in which the clause B
to be interpreted occurs (see State of West Bengal v. Union of India, AIR
(1963) SC 1241 and R.S. Raghunath v. State of Karnataka, AIR (1992) SC
81). Therefore, it is necessary to give full meaning and ettect LO the provisions
of sub-sections (2) and (3) of Section 13 of the Act. The full play and effect
cannot be given to sub-sections (2) and (3) of Section 13 of the Act if the
expression "prefer an appeal" is interpreted to mean that the payment to the C
landlord or deposit with the Rent Control Court of all arrears of rent admitted
by the tenant to be due is a pre-condition for filing a memorandum of appeal.
However, if such payment or deposit of arrears of admitted rent is not held
to be a pre-condition for mere filing or presentation of memorandum of
appeal, it will be possible for the appellate !\Uthority to give full effect to sub-
sections (2) & (3) of Section 13 of the Act. D
9. The dictionary meaning of the word 'prefer' is as under:
I '
To bring forward for consideration; to place in advance; to bear before;
put before; to move ahead or set forward.
E
According to Black's Law Dictionary, the word 'prefer' means as under:

To bring before; to prosecute to try to proceed with. Thus preferring an
indictment signifies prosecuting or trying an indictment.

10. In Commissioner ofIncome Tax v. B.N Bhattacharjee, AIR (1979) F
SC 1725 while interpreting the proviso appended to sub-section (I) of Section
245 of the Income Tax Act which said that " no such assessee shall be
entitled to make an application in a case where the Income Tax Officer has
preferred an appeal under sub-section (2) of Section 253 against the order to
which the assessee's appeal relates", it was observed that there is good ground G
to think that an appeals means an effective appeal. The Court went on to
observe that it may mean 'prosecute' or 'effectively pursue a proceeding' or
'merely institute' it. Purposefully interpreted, preferring an appeal means
more than formally filing it but effectively pursuing it.

11. If the expression "prefer an appeal" occurring in sub-section (I) of H
448 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2005] I S.C.R.

A Section 13 of the Act is interpreted to mean the mere filing ofa memorandum
of appeal, it may also result in extreme hardship to the tenant or even make
the provisions of Section 20 regarding an appeal against the order of Rent
Control Court nugatory in some cases. It may be noticed under clause (b) of
sub-section (I) of Section 20, the limitation for preferring an appeal against
the order passed by the Rent Control Court is only thirty days. Therefore, if
B the appeal is not preferred within the said period of thirty days (excluding the
period spent in obtaining the certified copy of the order appealed against),
the same shall become barred by limitation and would be liable to be rejected
on that ground alone. The tenant, on account of some personal difficulty or
problem may not be in a position to deposit all arrears of rent admitted by
C him to be due within the period of thirty days. In such an event, he may be
precluded from challenging the order of Rent Control Court as the
memorandum of appeal filed by him without making payment or deposit of
arrears of rent would be liable to be rejected straightaway. We are, therefore,
of the opinion that on a conjoint reading of all the provisions of the Act and
giving a fair and reasonable interpretation thereto an appeal under Section 20
D of the Act may be filed or presented without payment to the landlord or
deposit with the appellate authority all arrears of rent admitted by the tenant
to be due and it cannot be held to be incompetent. However, it will be open
to the appellate authority not to proceed with the hearing of the appeal or to ' I

pass any interim order in favour of the appellant-tenant until he has paid or
E deposited all arrears of rent admitted by him to be due, and for such purposes
the appellate authority shall have all the powers under sub-sections (2) and
(3) of Section 13 of the Act.

12. The view taken by the appellate authority that as the
appellant(tenant) had not paid or deposited all arrears of rent admitted by him
F to be due the appeal filed by him was incompetent is, therefore, clearly
unsustainable in law and the revisional authority rightly set aside the said
order and remanded the matter for fresh consideration by the appellate
authority. The Division Bench of the High Court, under the impugned order,
has held that the reference to larger bench made by the learned Single Judge
G was not called for and directed the writ petition to be placed for hearing on
merits before the learned Single Judge. Since we have held that the appeal
filed by the appellant against the decision of the Rent Control Court could
not be rejected only on the ground that the admitted arrears of rent had not
been paid or deposited, the hearing of the writ petition now by the learned
Single Judge would entail waste of public time. We, therefore, direct that the
H appeal preferred by the appellant be heard and decided in accordance with
M.L. MAJUMDAR v. G.C. DEY [ G.P. MA THUR, J.] 449

''> the direction issued by the learned District Judge, West Tripura, by the A
judgment and order dated 26.4.1997 in Civil RCC Revision No. 2 of 1996
and in accordance with law. The appeal is disposed of in terms of these
directions.

13. The parties shall bear their own costs.
B
D.G. Appeal disposed of.

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