- (1.) The propriety of a decree allowing a claim made under Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 has been called into question in the present proceedings under Article 227 of the Constitution. The legal issue that has arisen is whether under such provision the landlord of a property can recover possession thereof from an unauthorised sub-tenant, who has entered into possession of the property without the consent of the landlord but with the previous consent of the tenant who was in possession. No appeal or review lies from any decree passed in a suit instituted under the said provision in view of sub-section (3) thereof. The question involved here is of the jurisdiction of the suit court to entertain the claim on the basis of the averments in the plaint.
(2.) The facts are not of much relevance since the opposite party-plaintiff accepts that if the legal question is answered against the landlord-owner, the decree has to be reversed and the suit dismissed. But the case made out in the plaint needs to be noticed. The plaintiff claimed to be the donee of the suit property. The plaintiff averred that the first defendant was a tenant in respect of an area of 150 sq. ft on the ground floor of the premises owned by the plaintiff. The plaintiff alleged that on February 6, 2010 the first defendant made over possession of the tenanted premises in favour of the petitioning second defendant by sub-letting the same. The plaintiff asserted that as the undisputed owner of the suit premises, the plaintiff was in constructive possession thereof through the first defendant and the present petitioner's possession thereof amounted to dispossession of the plaintiff therefrom, entitling the plaintiff to invoke Section 6 of the said Act to obtain possession of the suit premises from the petitioner herein.
(3.) Section 6 of the said Act of 1963, which is in pari materia with Section 9 of the repealed predecessor statute of 1877, must first be seen: "6. Suit by person dispossessed of immovable property. (1) If any person is dispossessed without his consent of immovable property otherwise than in due course of law, he or any person claiming through him may, by suit, recover possession thereof, notwithstanding any other title that may be set up in such suit. (2) No suit under this section shall be brought (a) after the expiry of six months from the date of dispossession; or (b) against the Government. (3) No appeal shall lie from any order or decree passed in any suit instituted under this section, nor shall any review of any such order or decree be allowed. (4) Nothing in this section shall bar any person from suing to establish his title to such property and to recover possession thereof.";