‘Law for landlords, tenants not same’

Tenants Shouldn’t Be Saddled With Arbitrarily High Rents To Stay Eviction: SC

Everybody has a right to appeal in the high courts questioning the correctness of a trial court’s order rejecting a plea. Probably all such petitioners would be treated, they being equal in the eye of law. But expect different interim reliefs from the high court, depending upon whether you are a tenant or a landlord. This is what the Supreme Court ruled in a recent judgment.

If a trial court dismisses a landlord’s plea, he is entitled to move the HC with a writ petition seeking eviction of the tenant. The HC, while accepting the landlord’s plea for hearing, cannot direct the tenant to pay higher rent during the pendency of the petition, said a Bench comprising Justices R V Raveendran and L S Panta. Consider the opposite scenario, where the trial court allows the landlord’s plea and directs eviction of the tenant, the latter can move an appeal before the HC seeking stay of the trial court order.

In this case, the HC while entertaining the tenant’s appeal and staying the eviction can direct the tenant to pay higher rent, said the Bench.

“To sum up, in writ petitions by landlord against rejection of eviction petitions, there is no scope for issue of any interim direction to the tenant to pay higher rent. But in writ petitions by tenants against eviction, the HC may, as a condition of stay, direct the tenant to pay higher rent during the pendency of the writ petition,” said the Bench.

Setting aside an Allahabad HC order directing a tenant, Niyas Ahmad Khan, to pay a rent of Rs 12,050 per month as per the prevailing market rate, the Bench said: “Adopting some arbitrary figure as the prevailing market rent without any basis and directing the tenant to pay absurdly high rent would be considered oppressive and unreasonable even when such direction is issued as a condition for stay of eviction.”

Where the HC chooses to impose any condition while granting stay of eviction of the tenant, such condition should not be unreasonable and oppressive, it said.

With thanks from The Times of India 4 June 2008 P. 9 Delhi
With thanks from The Time of India
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