Oral lease proof, partition title and notice to quit were upheld; enhanced rent claim failed.

An unregistered rent-note signed only by the tenant may be used to corroborate an oral lease accompanied by delivery of possession, because it is not itself a bilateral lease deed requiring registration. A person who acquires the leased property by partition and gives notice of the change in title may maintain proceedings against the tenant, as the principle governing transfer of the lessor's interest applies. A notice to quit expressed in the Samwat calendar was not treated as invalid where that calendar governed the tenancy. A unilateral demand for enhanced rent did not create enforceable liability, and damages for holding over were not warranted on the record.

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Issues: (i) Whether an unregistered rent-note executed only by the lessee could be admitted in evidence to prove an oral lease accompanied by delivery of possession; (ii) whether partition of the lessor's interest entitled the person taking the property in partition to maintain the suit under the Transfer of Property Act; (iii) whether the notice to quit was invalid because it was expressed according to the Samwat calendar; and (iv) whether enhanced rent or damages could be awarded for the tenant's continued possession after determination of the tenancy.

Issue (i): Whether an unregistered rent-note executed only by the lessee could be admitted in evidence to prove an oral lease accompanied by delivery of possession.

Analysis: A lease from year to year or for a term exceeding one year requires registration, but an unregistered rent-note signed only by the tenant is not itself a lease deed executed by both parties. Where the arrangement is otherwise an oral lease followed by delivery of possession, such a document may be used to corroborate the oral agreement and the terms on which possession was given. The document in question therefore did not fail for want of registration so far as its evidentiary use was concerned.

Conclusion: The unregistered rent-note was admissible as corroborative evidence of the oral tenancy, and the objection to its use failed.

Issue (ii): Whether partition of the lessor's interest entitled the person taking the property in partition to maintain the suit under the Transfer of Property Act.

Analysis: The transferee's rights under the section dealing with transfer of lessor's interest were held to extend to a case where the leased property came to one member's share in partition. Partition was treated as a transfer in the broader legal sense, or at least the principle underlying transfer of the lessor's interest applied. Once the tenant had notice of the partition and the change in title, he could not refuse recognition of the person who had become sole owner of the property.

Conclusion: The plaintiff was competent to sue and the plea of want of privity failed.

Issue (iii): Whether the notice to quit was invalid because it was expressed according to the Samwat calendar.

Analysis: A monthly tenancy may be governed by calendars other than the English calendar, and the calendar understood by the parties must control the notice. The tenancy and the notice were referable to the Samwat calendar, and this objection had not been properly raised or established as a mixed question of law and fact in second appeal. The notice was therefore not defective on that ground.

Conclusion: The notice to quit was valid and the objection to it failed.

Issue (iv): Whether enhanced rent or damages could be awarded for the tenant's continued possession after determination of the tenancy.

Analysis: A unilateral demand for enhanced rent in a notice does not by itself create an enforceable contractual liability. Damages for holding over may be awarded in an appropriate case, but that relief depends on the facts and on the court's discretion. On the record, no sufficient basis was shown for granting enhanced rent or damages, and the appellate court's refusal to award it was justified.

Conclusion: No enhanced rent or damages were payable, and the cross-objection failed.

Final Conclusion: The decree for ejectment and arrears of rent was substantially upheld, while the claim for enhanced rent was rejected, leaving the plaintiff successful on the main relief and unsuccessful on the ancillary monetary claim.

Ratio Decidendi: An unregistered rent-note executed only by the tenant may be relied upon to corroborate an oral lease with delivery of possession, and a person who becomes sole owner of the leased property by partition can maintain proceedings against the tenant after notice of the change in title.

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