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2014 (5) TMI 1211 - HC - Indian LawsDirection to appellant/defendant to deposit arrears of rent @ ₹ 1 lakh per month from the date of the institution and till the pendency of the suit - Order XXXIX Rule 10 of the CPC - only argument of the counsel for the appellant/defendant is that under Order XV-A CPC, no direction for deposit of any amount in excess of that admitted by the defendant as payable can be issued - HELD THAT:- Order XV-A was introduced in the CPC as applicable to Delhi vide notification published in the Delhi Gazette dated 14th November, 2008. The same provides that in a suit by an owner/lessor for eviction of an unauthorized occupant/lessee or for the recovery of rent and future mesne profits from him, the defendant shall deposit such amount as the Court may direct on account of arrears upto the date of the order and thereafter continue to deposit in each succeeding month the rent claimed in the suit as the Court may direct. It further provides that upon default by the defendant in making the deposit, the defence of such a defendant may be struck off. Order XX Rule 12 of the CPC permits a Court to grant a relief, which had not become due to the plaintiff on the date of institution of the suit and the cause of action wherefor had not accrued on the date of institution of the suit and which fell due to the plaintiff after the date of institution of the suit. The said provision was made, perhaps to obviate the need for filing of a suit for recovery of mesne profits/damages for use and occupation of the property during the pendency of a suit for recovery of possession from the person in unauthorized occupation thereof. Though Order XVA is titled as "Striking Off defence in a suit by a lessor" but the same is not confined to striking off of defence only. The same, independently of Order XXXIX Rule 10 CPC, vests in the Court the power for issuing a direction for deposit. While so empowering the Court, as rightly held by the learned Single Judge, a departure was made from the language of Order XXXIX Rule 10 CPC. While under Order XXXIX Rule 10 CPC, a direction could be issued only for deposit/payment of admitted amount, the word 'admitted' is conspicuous by its absence in Order XV-A of the CPC. A discretion has been vested in the Court to issue direction for deposit of "such amount" as the Court may direct. Such departure from language of an earlier existing provision is a tool of interpretation - Reference may also be made to KHATRI HOTELS PRIVATE LIMITED AND ANOTHER VERSUS UNION OF INDIA AND ANOTHER [2011 (9) TMI 1098 - SUPREME COURT], where, finding the legislature to have designedly made a departure from the language of Article 120 of the Limitation Act, 1908, in enacting Article 58 of the 1963 Act, by introduction of the word "first" between the words "sue" and "accrued", it was held that if the suit is based on multiple causes of action, the period of limitation will begin to run from the date when the cause of action first accrued. In the present case, the learned Single Judge had two versions before him. One, of the respondent No. 1/plaintiff of the last rent paid by the appellant/defendant at the rate of ₹ 3 lakhs per month and the other of the appellant/defendant, of the last rent being paid at the rate of ₹ 1,000/- per month. The learned Single Judge has chosen to issue the direction for deposit @ ₹ 1 lakh per month - We are prima facie unable to believe that a valuable commercial property, as the subject property is, would have been let out at a rent below ₹ 3,500/- per month, allowing the letting to fall within the ambit of the Rent Act, whereunder the eviction of a tenant is not only difficult but virtually impossible. Both the parties obviously have been indulging in transactions in cash, perhaps to avoid taxes. We in the circumstances are of the opinion that there is no reason to interfere with the order of the learned Single Judge. The appeal is dismissed.
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