TMI Blog1956 (4) TMI 68X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the premises respectively occupied by them. The New Delhi Municipal Committee took a preliminary objection that the applications were not competent because no relationship of landlord and tenant existed between the parties and the various applicants were not tenants within the meaning of the Act. Upon this the trial Court framed the following preliminary issue: Whether the relationship of landlord and tenant exists between the parties, and therefore these applications are competent and the Court has jurisdiction to fix the standard rent? 3. The learned Subordinate Judge found that the applications were competent because various applicants were tenants within the meaning of the Act. The New Delhi Municipal Committee moved this Court on the revision side and when the matter came up in the first instance before my Lord the Chief Justice sitting singly he referred it to a Division Bench owing to the importance of the question involved. We have heard the learned counsel for both sides at considerable length and have also considered the various rulings cited before us. 4. An application under Section 8 of the Rent Control Act can only be made by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... i Colony were leased out by the New Delhi Municipal Committee and whether there Is a valid lease in law in respect of them. 6. Before I come to consider this question it is necessary to state that the parties to the proceedings under Section 8 of the Rent Control Act must possess the status of landlord and tenant. Therefore unless the respondents enjoy the legal status of tenants they cannot ask the Court to fix the standard rent under the Rent Control Act, If the person in occupation of a house or a shop is something other than a tenant, then he will not be entitled to come to Court under Section 8 even if he is paying a sum of money to the owner of the building which he occupies. A simple case which immediately comes to mind is the case of licensee. A licensee occupies the premises and enjoys the use of these premises, and for his enjoyment he may have agreed to pay a certain sum of money to the owner of the premises but he thereby does nut become a tenant because there is no lease in his favour and there is no transfer of any interest in the property to him. That being so, he cannot call himself a tenant and he cannot ask the Court to fix the standa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o be void. The Municipal Committee's suit to eject the occupier was decreed in that case. 'Mt. Bhankri v. Milkha Singh', 1941 Lah 407 (AIR V 28) (C), was a case in which the effect of non-registration of a document was considered. It was held that no equitable law can overrule the specific provisions of Section 49 and operate so as to make an unregistered document create title if it required registration. 11. It seems to me that a clear distinction exists between a person who enjoys the status of a tenant and all the rights and liabilities appertaining thereto and a person who may have some of the attributes and privileges of a tenant but in law is not a tenant. The respondents in my view have certain privileges and rights which are similar to those of a tenant but they are not tenants in law. Before a person can come to Court and invoke the provisions of the Rent Control Act he must show that he is a tenant and enjoys the status of a tenant. It is not sufficient for him to show that he is in possession of certain premises and is paying rent for them because these facts are consistent with his being a licensee and a licensee clearly cannot ask the Cour ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... find out what the nature of the contract is, but where the party has not executed! any valid contract at all because the form prescribed by statute was not observed, then the Court is not at liberty to look at the terms of the contract in order to determine its true nature. In the present case it may well be that even if the respondents sued on the basis of a licence they would be non-suited on the ground that no valid contract of licence as required by Section 47 of I the Municipal Act had been executed. The objection in this case is a fundamental one namely that when a contract is not drawn up and executed in the manner provided by Section 47 of the Municipal Act the contract shall not be binding on the Committee. There can be no question of a party being estopped by its admissions. There can be no estoppel against a statute and the statements contained in the written statement of the Municipal Committee have in no way altered the position of the respondents. 14. The position of the respondents and the payment of rent by them do not give them the status of tenants, and the Municipal Committee in accepting rent did not estop itself from denying the statu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ossessed by tenants only. In other words Section 53A merely protects a defendant and does not confer any legal right. It was held by their Lordships of the Privy Council in -- 'Probodh Kumar Das v. Dantmara Tea Co. Ltd.', 1940 PC 1 (AIR V 27) (D), that Section 53A, Transfer of Property Act conferred no right of action on a transferee in possession ; In their Lordships' opinion, the amendment of the law effected by the enactment of Section 53A conferred no right of action on a transferee in possession under an unregistered contract of sale. Their Lordships agree with the view expressed by Mitter J. in the High Court that 'the right conferred by Section 53A is a right available only to the defendant to protect his possession. What is true of an unregistered document is equally true of a non-existent lease deed when the law requires the lease deed to be executed according to the provisions of Section 47 of the Municipal Act only. Similar observations were made by the Allahabad High Court in -- 'Ram Chander v. MaharaJ Kunwar', 1939 All 611 (AIR V 26) (E). That was a case in which the plaintiff sought to invoke the provisions of Section 53A, T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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