Tenant estoppel in eviction proceedings bars denial of transferee-landlord's title during the subsisting tenancy.

A tenant who has continuously recognised and paid rent to the original landlord or predecessor is estopped under Section 116 of the Evidence Act from denying the transferee's title while the tenancy continues. On purchase of the buildings by registered sale deed, the landlord-tenant relationship continued on the same terms, and the petitioners could not resist eviction by disputing the respondent's title. The court also noted that the buildings were treated as separately owned from the land, and the grant documents did not show that structures raised by the grantee would vest automatically in the State. Eviction proceedings were therefore maintainable.

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Issues: Whether the petitioners could deny the respondent's title and dispute the existence of a landlord-tenant relationship in the eviction proceedings.

Analysis: The petitioners had admittedly occupied the buildings as tenants and had paid rent continuously to the predecessor-in-interest and thereafter to his widow for many years. On the respondent's purchase of the buildings by registered sale deed, the same tenancy relationship continued on the same terms, and the petitioners could not refuse recognition of the respondent as landlord merely by questioning title. Under Section 116 of the Evidence Act, a tenant is estopped from denying the landlord's title during the continuance of the tenancy. Independently, the buildings were treated as separately owned from the land, and nothing in the grant documents showed that structures raised by the grantee would automatically vest in the State.

Conclusion: The petitioners were estopped from denying the respondent's title, the landlord-tenant relationship was established, and the eviction proceedings were maintainable.

Ratio Decidendi: A tenant who has recognised and paid rent to the landlord or predecessor cannot, while the tenancy subsists, dispute the transferee-landlord's title under Section 116 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; title to the leased property is not open to challenge in such proceedings.

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