Landlord can recover enhanced house tax from tenant under specific Corporation Act provision, despite Rent Control Act.

The court held that the landlord is entitled to recover the enhanced amount of house tax from the tenant under Section 121(1) of the Corporation Act, despite provisions in the Delhi Rent Control Act. The court determined that Section 121(1) prevails over Section 7(2) of the Rent Act as it addresses a specific contingency not covered by the general provision in the Rent Act. The Civil Revision Petition was dismissed without costs.

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Issues: Whether the landlord was entitled under section 121(1) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 to recover the enhanced house tax from the tenant notwithstanding the tenancy contract and section 7(2) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958.

Analysis: The provision in section 121(1) specially deals with the situation where property tax levied on let premises exceeds the tax that would have been leviable on the amount of rent payable by the tenant. The bar in section 7(2) of the Delhi Rent Control Act applies to recovery of tax on a building or land ordinarily occupied by the tenant, but it does not control the special contingency covered by section 121(1). The Court preferred the earlier reasoning that the municipal provision operates in its own field and rejected the contrary view that the Rent Control Act overrides it.

Conclusion: The landlord was entitled to recover the enhanced amount of house tax from the tenant under section 121(1) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 notwithstanding section 7(2) and section 4 of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958.

Ratio Decidendi: A special statutory provision enabling recovery of excess property tax from a tenant prevails in its limited field over a general rent control bar against recovery of tax from the tenant.

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