Transfer inter vivos bar under Kerala rent law prevented eviction petition until the one-year period expired.

A landlord's eviction petition under the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965 was barred by the third proviso to Section 11(3) because the right to recover possession arose under a transfer inter vivos and the one-year quarantine period had not expired. The Court held that the right flowed from the gift deed by which title was acquired, not from any fresh lease arrangement. A mere change in rent or in the identity of the lessor did not amount to an implied surrender of the earlier tenancy under Section 111(f) of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. The petition was therefore not maintainable when filed, and a fresh petition could be pursued only after expiry of the statutory bar period.

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Issues: Whether the landlord's eviction petition was barred by the third proviso to Section 11(3) of the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965 because the right to recover possession arose under a transfer inter vivos and the one-year quarantine period had not expired.

Analysis: The right to recover possession was held to arise from the gift deed by which the landlord acquired title, not from a fresh lease so as to avoid the statutory bar. Even assuming a new lease arrangement, a mere variation in rent or in the identity of the lessor did not establish an implied surrender of the earlier tenancy under Section 111(f) of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. The statutory prohibition in the third proviso applied whenever the landlord's right to recover possession arose under an instrument of transfer inter vivos, and in either view the petition had been filed before expiry of one year from the relevant instrument.

Conclusion: The eviction petition was not maintainable when filed and had to fail on that ground; the merits could not be gone into on a non-maintainable petition.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was dismissed, and the landlord was left at liberty to pursue a fresh petition after the statutory bar period, uninfluenced by the earlier findings.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a landlord's right to recover possession arises under a transfer inter vivos, an eviction petition under Section 11(3) cannot be filed until the statutory one-year period expires, and a mere change in rent or lessor does not by itself constitute an implied surrender of the existing tenancy.

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