ANIL K.SEN, J. - (1.) This is a revisional application at the instance of the opposite party in a distress proceeding under the Presidency Small Cause Courts Act, being Distress Case No. 120 of 1983 of the 4th Bench of the Court of Small Causes, Calcutta. The order impugned is one dated 14-1-1984, passed by the learned Judge, 4th Bench, overruling an objection to the distress preferred by the opposite party under S.60 of the said Act. The facts are not in dispute and the point involved is one of question of law.
(2.) The petitioner before the Court of Small Causes, Calcutta, Messrs. Manton and Company Limited was a lessee in respect of premises No. 13/3, Old Court House Street, Calcutta. The lessee suffered an order for eviction passed by the Tribunal constituted under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act dated 18-3-1976. An appeal preferred by the lessee against the said order of eviction under S.9 of the said Act succeeded when the learned Chief Judge, City Civil Court, Calcutta, on 10-9-1981, set aside the said order of eviction. The appellate order, however, was set aside by this court on May 29, 1982, in C.R. 158 of 1982 and this court restored the original order of eviction. The lessee preferred a special leave application before the Supreme Court against the said order of this court but the Supreme Court by an order dated 29-9-1982, dismissed the said special leave application but allowed the lessee time till 30-9-1983, to vacate.
(3.) At the time when the aforesaid C. R. 158 of 1982 was pending in this court and the order for eviction stood set aside by the learned Chief Judge, City Civil Court at Calcutta, the petitioner before us Messrs. Sree Genesh Trading Company Private Limited was inducted as a sub-lessee by the lessee on 24-10-1981. The rent payable by the sub-lessee to the lessee for the period October 1982 to August 1983, being in default the lessee instituted the aforesaid distress proceedings, being Distress Case No. 120 of 1983 against the said sub-lessee, the petitioner before us. To this distress, an objection was preferred by the sub-lessee under S.60, Presidency Small Cause Courts Act, to the effect that the relationship of landlord and tenant as between the parties stood determined by the order for eviction which was restored by this court on May 29, 1982. This objection has been overruled by the learned trial Judge who held that "neither in law nor in equity the defendant can resist the claim of the plaintiff for rent for the period in question.";