Waiver of statutory rent exemption by agreement upheld; private-benefit protection was not void under contract law.

A statutory protection enacted for the private benefit of a party may be waived by agreement unless the statute expressly forbids waiver or the arrangement is contrary to public policy. Section 1-A of the U.P. (Temporary) Control of Rent and Eviction Act, 1947 was treated as an exemption for the benefit of owners of buildings erected on or after 1 January 1951, and it contained no express bar on waiver. The agreement did not require any unlawful act or defeat the law in the relevant sense, so it was not void under Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. The tenant therefore remained protected under Section 3 of the Act.

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Issues: Whether the landlord could waive the benefit of Section 1-A of U.P. (Temporary) Control of Rent and Eviction Act, 1947 by agreement, and whether such agreement was void under Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, so as to deny the tenant the protection of Section 3 of the Act.

Analysis: Section 1-A was held to be an exemption enacted for the benefit of owners of buildings erected on or after 1 January 1951. The provision contained no express prohibition against the landlord and tenant agreeing that the building would not be governed by that exemption. The governing principle applied was that a person may waive a statutory advantage conferred solely for private benefit, unless the statute or public policy prohibits such waiver. An agreement is hit by Section 23 only where its performance necessarily requires disobedience of law or defeats a legal provision in the relevant sense. On the facts, performance of the agreement did not involve any unlawful act, and no question of public policy arose.

Conclusion: The landlord could validly waive the benefit of Section 1-A, the agreement was not void under Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, and the tenant remained entitled to protection under Section 3 of the Act.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory protection enacted for the private benefit of a party may be waived by agreement unless the statute expressly forbids waiver or the agreement is contrary to public policy or necessarily defeats the law.

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