Presumption of receipt and rent set-off arrangement defeated wilful default under rent control law

Correspondence posted under certificate of posting to the correct address can attract the presumption of receipt, and the parties' conduct may sustain a rent-and-electricity adjustment arrangement with the landlord's interest liability. On that footing, rent non-payment during the relevant period was explained by the continuing set-off, so wilful default could not be inferred under rent control law. The eviction basis therefore failed, and the eviction order was set aside with the tenant not treated as a wilful defaulter.

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Issues: (i) Whether the arrangement for adjustment of rent and electricity charges against interest payable by the landlord continued after February 1977. (ii) Whether the tenant committed wilful default in payment of rent so as to justify eviction under the rent control law.

Issue (i): Whether the arrangement for adjustment of rent and electricity charges against interest payable by the landlord continued after February 1977.

Analysis: The existence of the arrangement up to February 1977 stood established by the landlord's own letter and admissions. The subsequent letters sent by the tenant's wife repeatedly referred to the same adjustment of rent and electricity charges against the interest payable, and they were posted under certificates of posting to the correct address. In the absence of any material showing that the letters were not delivered, the statutory presumption of receipt applied. The conduct of the parties and the continued correspondence supported the continuance of the arrangement.

Conclusion: The arrangement continued after February 1977.

Issue (ii): Whether the tenant committed wilful default in payment of rent so as to justify eviction under the rent control law.

Analysis: Wilful default could not be inferred once the adjustment arrangement was held to subsist. The tenant's non-payment of rent during the relevant period was explained by the continuing set-off of rent and electricity charges against the interest due from the landlord. Since the letters establishing that arrangement were presumed to have been received, the foundation for alleging deliberate default failed. The eviction order based on wilful default could not therefore be sustained.

Conclusion: The tenant did not commit wilful default and eviction was not justified.

Final Conclusion: The revision succeeded, the appellate order of eviction was set aside, and the landlord's eviction application stood dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: When correspondence posted under certificate of posting to the correct address supports a subsisting adjustment arrangement, the presumption of receipt may be drawn under the Evidence Act, and rent non-payment in accordance with that arrangement does not amount to wilful default.

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