Shree Chandrashekhar, J. - (1.) The petitioner who is plaintiff in Eviction (Title) Suit No. 13 of 2008 is aggrieved of order dated 23.01.2016 by which the trial Judge has ordered that the petition under Section 15 Jharkhand Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 2000 shall be decided at the time of final hearing.
(2.) Briefly stated, Eviction (Title) Suit No. 13 of 2008 was instituted for ejection of the defendant from the suit schedule property. The suit has been instituted on the ground of default in payment of rent. The plaintiff has pleaded that since June 1999 the defendant has failed to pay monthly rent @ Rs. 6,000/-. He has asserted that a cheque dated 10.05.2000 for Rs. 18,000/- towards monthly rent for the period of June 1999 to August 1999 drawn in favour of the plaintiff was given by the defendant to him, however, on presentation the said cheque was returned unpaid on the ground of insufficiency of fund. For this, the plaintiff has filed Complaint Case No. 333 of 2000, however, in the meantime husband of the defendant namely, Jawahar Prasad died on 08.05.2003 and as such the said complaint case stood disposed of. In the written statement, the defendant has denied relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties. Admittedly, no rent receipt has been produced by the plaintiff to corroborate his stand that the defendant is a tenant under him.
(3.) Section 2(f) of the Jharkhand Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 2000 defines landlord to include a person who for the time being is receiving or is entitled to receive, the rent of a building whether on his own account or on behalf of another. The expression "tenant" has been defined in Section 2(h) of the Act. It is an admitted position that before institution of the eviction suit husband of the defendant has died. The trial Judge in the aforesaid state of affairs has decided to decide the application under Section 15 at the time of final hearing. Evidently, before the parties have led their evidence which would prima-facie indicate whether there is a relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties or not, in my opinion, the trial Judge has rightly not decided the application under Section 15 at this stage.;