Personal residential need in eviction proceedings is not heritable when legal representatives would need to prove a different claim.

A landlord's eviction claim under the Delhi Rent Control Act based solely on his own residential need was held to be personal to him and not capable of being continued by his legal representatives after his death. The cause of action had to be tested on the original pleadings, and substitution would have required a materially different claim based on the representatives' own accommodation needs. That would amount to a new and distinct basis for relief rather than a mere continuation of the same proceeding. The eviction application therefore abated as against the deceased landlord.

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Issues: Whether an eviction application based on the landlord's personal requirement under the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 survived after the landlord's death so as to be continued by his legal representatives.

Analysis: The right asserted in the eviction proceedings was the deceased landlord's own need for residential occupation for himself and members of his family. The cause of action had to be tested from the pleadings as originally framed, and the nature of the claim showed that it was personal to the landlord. On his death, the legal representatives could not continue the same proceeding because their own requirements and accommodation position would raise a different and distinct cause of action. Such a shift would amount to a fundamental change in the basis of the claim and could not be achieved by mere continuation of the existing proceedings. The references to the general rule of survival under succession law and the procedural rule on abatement did not alter the position because the relief sought could no longer be pursued on the deceased landlord's original personal requirement.

Conclusion: The right to sue did not survive to the legal representatives, and the eviction application abated as against the deceased landlord.

Final Conclusion: A landlord's eviction claim founded solely on his personal residential requirement is not heritable after his death, where the legal representatives would have to establish a materially different need of their own.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the relief in a rent-eviction proceeding is founded on the deceased plaintiff's personal requirement, the cause of action is personal and does not survive to his legal representatives if continuation would require a new and distinct basis for relief.

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