Civil Courts' Jurisdiction To Entertain Injunction Suits By Tenants Against Landlords Not Barred By UP Regulation Of Urban Premises Tenancy Act: Allahabad HC
|The Allahabad High Court observed that the jurisdiction of Civil Courts to entertain suits for injunction filed by tenants against their landlords, is not barred by the provisions of the U.P Regulation of Urban Premises Tenancy Act, 2021.
The Court said that the Civil Court continues to have jurisdiction to entertain the suits for an injunction even after the enactment of the Act of 2021.
The Court was hearing a Petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, challenging the validity of a judgment passed by the Civil Judge who had dismissed, at the admission stage, the Petitioner’s Suit seeking a perpetual injunction to prevent the defendant/landlord from evicting him from the leased property without following due legal process. The dismissal was based on the ground that Section 38(1) of the U.P Regulation of Urban Premises Tenancy Act, 2021 provides that no Civil Court shall entertain any suit or proceeding insofar as it relates to the provisions of the Act of 2021. The Petitioner also challenged the validity of the judgement and order passed by the Additional District who dismissed the revision and affirmed the order of the Civil Judge.
The bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi observed, “…the jurisdiction of Civil Courts to entertain suits for injunction filed by tenants against their landlords, is not barred by the provisions of the Act of 2021 and the Civil Court continues to have jurisdiction to entertain the suits for injunction even after enactment of the Act of 2021.”
Advocate Ratnesh Chandra appeared for the Appellant and Advocate Gopesh Tripathi appeared for the Respondent.
The Court observed, “Act of 2021 confers jurisdiction on rent authority/rent tribunal to entertain petitions filed by landlord or eviction/ejectment of tenant for recovery of arrears of rent and damages etc. but there is no provision in the aforesaid act which confers jurisdiction on the rent authority/rent tribunal to entertain a suit for perpetual injunction filed by a tenant against his dispossession otherwise then in accordance with the law.”
The Court said that by declining to admit the suit for perpetual injunction, the Civil Judge has failed to exercise a jurisdiction vested in it by law.
Accordingly, the order passed by the Civil Judge, as well as the order passed by the Revisional Court affirming the order of the Civil Judge, is unsustainable in law.
Finally, the Court allowed the Petition.
Cause Title: Harmeet Singh v. Desh Deepak Gupta (Neutral Citation: 2024:AHC-LKO:63611)
Appearance:
Appellant: Advocates Ratnesh Chandra,Ishan Singh Popli and Madhav Om
Respondent: Advocate Gopesh Tripathi