Mandatory deposit of rent after landlord refusal is essential to retain rent-control protection and avoid second default.

Under the Delhi Rent Control Act, a tenant who cannot have rent accepted by the landlord must follow the statutory deposit procedure in Section 27 to preserve rent-control protection. The scheme treats non-payment after notice as a ground for eviction, and repeated default after earlier protection under Section 14(2) can remove that protection. The Court read the Section 27 deposit requirement as mandatory in this context, so failure to deposit rent with the Rent Controller after refusal by the landlord amounted to non-compliance and a second default, making the tenant liable to eviction.

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Issues: Whether, after the landlord refused the tender of rent, the tenant was required to deposit the rent with the Rent Controller under the Act, and whether failure to do so amounted to a second default disentitling the tenant from protection under the rent-control statute.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 gives a tenant protection against eviction for default in payment of rent, but that protection is conditional. Section 14(1)(a) makes non-payment or non-tender of arrears of rent after notice a ground for eviction, while Section 14(2) denies the benefit of protection where the tenant, having once obtained that benefit, again defaults for three consecutive months. Section 27 specifically provides the procedure when the landlord does not accept rent tendered by the tenant or refuses to issue a receipt. The Court held that the word "may" in Section 27, in this context, must be read as imposing a to follow the prescribed procedure, because the legislative intent was to require strict compliance before the tenant could claim statutory protection. Since the tenant had not deposited the rent with the Rent Controller after refusal by the landlord, the statutory procedure was not complied with and the earlier benefit under Section 14(2) could not be retained.

Conclusion: The tenant's failure to deposit the rent under Section 27 after refusal by the landlord amounted to a second default, and the tenant was liable to eviction.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the rent-control statute prescribes a specific procedure for deposit of rent after the landlord refuses tender, that procedure must be strictly followed; non-compliance defeats the tenant's statutory protection and constitutes default.

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