- (1.) The defendant no. 2 has made this application for considering issue nos. 1 and 6 as preliminary issues and for an adjudication of the suit on the said two issues and (in the alternative) for framing of the preliminary issue: "Whether the suit is triable under the provisions of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997 or the Transfer of Property Act , 1882?"
(2.) The plaintiff has filed the present suit for eviction of the defendants and for a decree of an ascertained sum on account of arrears of rent. The defendant no. 2 was to continue the cross-examination of the plaintiff today. There are 14 other defendants in the suit.
(3.) The instant application has been filed pursuant to a decision of a learned Judge of this court in a civil revisional application, being C.O. No. 1582 of 2019 Ashwin Bhanulal Desai vs. Bijay Kumar Manish Kumar HUF where, upon considering a Division Bench decision of this Court in Prakashwati Chopra vs. Sibaji Mitra [(2007) 1 (Cal) LJ 47], the court came to the conclusion that the dispute in that case fell under The West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997 as opposed to The Transfer of Property Act , 1884. The court also considered the effect of the exemption provided under section 3(c) of the 1997 Act on the facts of that case.;