Statutory tenant rights override lease covenants under the Madras City Tenants' Protection Act, preserving purchase rights despite a no-construction term.

An unregistered lease covenant prohibiting construction could not defeat tenants' statutory rights under the Madras City Tenants' Protection Act, 1921. The Act was construed as a self-contained code: section 3 preserved a right to compensation on ejectment, section 9 conferred a corresponding right to purchase, and section 12 prevented contractual terms from taking away or limiting those rights. Because the lease was unregistered, the proviso protecting registered stipulations about erection of buildings did not apply. Section 13 excluded reliance on the general law of transfer of property, and the preamble could not narrow clear operative provisions. The covenant not to build therefore did not curtail the statutory entitlement to seek purchase of the land.

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Issues: Whether a covenant in an unregistered lease deed prohibiting construction could defeat the tenant's rights to compensation and purchase under sections 3 and 9 of the Madras City Tenants' Protection Act, 1921, and whether the statutory provisions had to be read as limited by the general law or the preamble.

Analysis: The Act defines "tenant" broadly and confers a right to compensation on ejectment under section 3 and a corresponding right to seek purchase under section 9. Section 12 provides that nothing in any contract made by a tenant shall take away or limit rights under the Act, while the proviso protecting registered stipulations concerning erection of buildings was inapplicable because the lease was unregistered. The Act was treated as self-contained, and section 13 excluded reliance on the general law of transfer of property to cut down the statutory rights. The preamble could not control clear operative provisions, and the covenant not to build could not be used to narrow the scope of sections 3 and 9.

Conclusion: The covenant did not deprive the tenants of their statutory rights, and they remained entitled to seek purchase of the land under section 9 notwithstanding the breach of the building covenant.

Ratio Decidendi: A contractual covenant cannot curtail the statutory rights conferred by the Madras City Tenants' Protection Act where the Act declares such rights overriding and self-contained, and clear operative provisions cannot be restricted by the preamble or by the general law.

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