R. C. Lahoti, J. - (1.) A suit for ejectment of the tenant from a shop on the ground available under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 13 of Rajasthan Premises (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1950 (hereinafter the "Act", for short), filed by the respondent, was dismissed by the trial Court. In an appeal preferred by the respondent, the first appellate Court reversed the decision of trial Court and decreed the suit. The High Court has dismissed the second appeal preferred by the tenant and upheld the decree of eviction passed by the appellate Court. The legal representatives of the tenant, who has died during litigation, have filed this appeal by Special Leave. For the sake of convenience we will refer to the appellants as 'tenant' and the respondent as 'landlord'.
(2.) The relevant facts, to the extent not in controversy, may briefly be stated. The landlord owns a house in which there are four shops on the ground floor, one of which is in occupation of the tenant on a monthly rent of Rs. 55/-. Earlier a suit seeking eviction of tenant for his failure to pay or tender the amount of rent due from him was filed but the same was dismissed on account of the tenant having earned protection from eviction by making payment deposit under sub-sections (4) and (6) of Section 13. Once again the tenant fell into arrears of rent for the period from 1-3-1985 to 30-6-1986. The present suit was filed on the ground of second default. On 4-5-1985, the tenant had deposited in Court 6 months' rent vide challan No. 36 in Civil Misc. Case No. 27/85 and subsequently, on 30-10-1985, another 12 months' rent vide tender No. 2230 in Civil Misc Case No. 89/85. Both these deposits were made under Section 19A of the Act. The trial Court held the deposits to be valid deposits under Section 19A while the First Appellate Court and the High Court have held the deposits not to be valid and hence the tenant to be a defaulter. The controversy centers around the interpretation of Section 19A. Sections 13 and 19A, which are relevant, are extracted and reproduced hereunder : "Sec. 13. Eviction of tenants.- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law or contract, no Court shall pass any decree, or make any order, in favour of a landlord, whether in execution of a decree or otherwise, evicting the tenant so long as he is ready and willing to pay rent therefore to the full extent allowable by this Act, unless it is satisfied- (a) that the tenant has neither paid nor tendered the amount of rent due from him for six months; or (3) In a suit for eviction on the ground set forth in clause (a) of sub-section (1) with or without any of the other grounds referred to in that sub-section, the Court shall, on the first date of hearing or on any other date as the Court may fix in this behalf which shall not be more than three months after filing of the written statement and shall be before the framing of the issues, after hearing the parties and on the basis of material on record provisionally determine the amount of rent to be deposited in Court or paid to the landlord by the tenant. Such amount shall be calculated at the rate of rent at which it was last paid or was payable for the period for which the tenant may have made default including the period subsequent thereto upto the end of the month previous to that in which such determination is made together with interest on such amount calculated at the rate of six percent per annum from the date when any such amount was payable upto the date of determination. Provided that while determining the amount under this sub-section, the Court shall not take into account the amount of rent which was barred by limitation on the date of the filing of the suit. (4) The tenant shall deposit in Court or pay to the landlord the amount determined by the Court under sub-section (3) within fifteen days from the date of such determination, or within such further time, not exceeding three months, as may be extended by the Court. The tenant shall also continue to deposit in Court or pay to the landlord, month by month the monthly rent subsequent to the period up to which determination has been made, by the fifteenth of each succeeding month or within such further time, not exceeding fifteen days, as may be extended by the Court, at the monthly rate at which the rent was determined by the Court under sub-section (3). (5) If a tenant fails to deposit or pay any amount referred to in sub-section (4) on the date or within the time specified therein, the Court shall order the defence against eviction to be struck out and shall proceed with the hearing of the suit. (6) If a tenant makes deposit or payment as required by sub-section (4) no decree for eviction on the ground specified in clause (a) of sub-sec (1) shall be passed by the Court against him : Provided that a tenant shall not be entitled to any relief under this sub-section, if having obtained such benefit or benefits under Section 13-A in respect of any such accommodation if he again makes a default in the payment of Rent of that accommodation for six months. Sec. 19-A. Payment, remittance and deposit of Rent by tenant.- 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 for which it is payable. (2) Every tenant who makes a payment on account of rent shall be entitled to obtain a receipt for the amount paid duly signed by the landlord or his authorised agent. (3) A tenant may, apart from personal payment of rent to the 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 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 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 : Provided further 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 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 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-sec. (1) and further continue to deposit with the Court any rent which may subsequently become due in respect of the premises. (4) For the purpose of clause (a) of sub-sec. (1) of Section 13; a tenant shall be deemed to have paid or tendered the amount of any rent due from him, if he has paid, remitted or deposited the amount of rent by any of the methods specified in sub-sec. (3), (5) The deposit with the Court shall be accompanied by an application by tenant containing the following particulars, namely- (a) The accommodation for which the rent is deposit with a description sufficient for identifying the premises; (b) the period for which the rent is deposited; (c) the name and address of the landlord or the person or persons claiming to be entitled to such rent; (d) the reason and circumstances for which the application for depositing the rent is made."
(3.) According to the learned counsel for the tenant, the landlord was avoiding to accept the amount of rent tendered by him, and therefore, on 12-2-1985 through his local counsel he had given a notice to the landlord calling upon him to disclose his bank, bank account number and nature of bank account so that the tenant could deposit the amount of rent in the landlord's bank account. The landlord gave no response to the notice, and therefore, the tenant deposited the amount of rent in arrears in the Court consistently with clause (c) of sub-section (3) of Section 19-A of the Act which deposit shall be deemed to be a payment or tender, to the landlord under sub-section (4) of Section 19-A. The first Appellate Court and the High Court have held that in order to be a valid deposit under Section 19-A, the deposit in the Court must be preceded by a remittance by postal money order at the ordinary address of the landlord and in the event of such money order being received back then by a notice in writing to the landlord calling for the particulars contemplated by Section 19-A(3)(b) and it is only after having taken both the steps consecutively that the tenant becomes entitled to make a deposit in the Court. Inasmuch as it is not the case of the tenant that he tendered the rent due by postal money order to the landlord, the deposit was not valid as one of the pre-conditions for making a deposit in the Court was missing. Aggrieved by the judgment of the High Court, the tenant has preferred this appeal by special leave.;