TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (11) TMI 1855
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....xtile Corporation Ltd. v. Nareshkumar Badrikumar Jagad and Ors. (2011) 12 SCC 695. At the same time, the Appellant National Textile Corporation Ltd. (for short "NTC") has filed an application for directions including for extension of time. Whereas, Respondent Nos. 1 to 6 in the review petition (for short "Respondents") who were Respondent Nos. 1 to 6 in the aforementioned civil appeal, have filed contempt petition for initiating appropriate action against the Appellant NTC. During the pendency of the review petition, an Ordinance was promulgated titled as the Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2014 which later on became The Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2014 (for short "Validation Act 2014"), as a result of which the Union of India has filed an application for urging additional grounds in the Review Petition. As the issues to be decided in these proceedings are overlapping, we propose to deal with the same by this common order. 2. Briefly stated, the property in question admeasuring 12118 square yards of land, bearing Plot No. 9 in Survey No. 73 of Lower Parel Division, N.M. Joshi Marg, ....
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....ordered and decree to quit, vacate and hand over quiet, vacant and peaceful possession of the suit Plot No. 9, Cadastral Survey No. 73 of Lower Parel Division situated at Delisle Road, (Now known as N.M. Joshi Marg), Bombay-400011 to the Plaintiffs; (b) that the Defendants No. 2 be ordered and decreed to pay the mesne profit to the Plaintiffs from the date of the suit till the Decree at the rate of Rs. 128.75 per month, and after passing of the Decree a direction be given to make inquiry in the matter and such other rate 170, at the rate prevailing in the market be fixed as the mesne profit payable till possession is handed over to the Plaintiffs; (c) that pending the hearing and final disposal of the suit the Defendants No. 2 their servants, agents and representatives be restrained by an order and injunction of this Hon'ble Court from carrying out any further work of additions, alterations and/or erections of a permanent nature or committing acts of waste into or upon the suit lands viz., Plot No. 9, Cadastral Survey No. 73 of Lower Parel Division situated at Delisle Road, (Now known as N.M. Joshi Marg), Bombay-400011; (d) that pending the hearing an....
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....nd admeasuring about 12,118 Sq. yards with all buildings standing thereon, situated at Delisle Road, now known as N.M. Joshi Marg, Bombay-400011. C. that it be also declared that Defendants No. 3, as the statutory tenants of the Plaintiffs in respect of suit premises being Plot No. 9, Cadastral Survey No. 73, land admeasuring about 12,118 Sq. yards with all buildings standing thereon, situated at Delisle Road, now known as N.M. Joshi Marg, Bombay-400011, had no right to claim and/or receive any compensation from the Defendants No. 1 and/or Defendant No. 2, for the acquirement and/or vesting of their statutory tenancy right, in the Defendants No. 1. D. that the Defendants No. 1 and 2 be directed to furnish the detail bifurcation of the payment mentioned in Schedule I item No. 4 of the said Ordinance 6 of 1995. E. that the Defendants No. 1 be also restrained from making any payment to the extent of Defendants No. 3, allege lease right, title, and interest in the suit property being Plot No. 9, Cadastral Survey No. 73, land admeasuring about 12,118 sq. yards with all buildings standing thereon, situated at Delisle Road, now known as N.M. Joshi Marg, Bombay-4....
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....quiry Under Order XX Rule 12 (c) of the Code of Civil Procedure; (c) pending hearing and final disposal of the suit Defendants by themselves, their agents, officers, servants be restrained by order and injunction of this Hon'ble Court from parting with possession or occupation of the suit premises under any assignment or part in whatsoever manner of induct any third party therein; (d) pending the hearing and final disposal of the suit some fit and proper person be appointed Receiver with all power Under Order 40 Rule 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure to take charge of the suit premises; (e) pending the hearing and final disposal of the suit Defendants be ordered to pay to the Plaintiffs damages/equally profit at Rs. 7 lacs per month subject to adjustment of said amount when damages/mesne profit is finally determined by the Hon'ble Court; (f) interim and ad-interim reliefs in terms of prayers (c), (d) and (e) above; (g) cost of this suit be provided for; and (h) for such other and further reliefs as the nature and circumstances of the case may required be granted. 7. The Appellant NTC filed its written statement denying....
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....in compliance of the order dated 5th September, 2011 passed by this Court. 12. Before the expiry of the time to vacate, NTC filed an application for extension of time to hand over possession of the suit premises on 23rd December, 2013, for reasons stated in the application. This Court acceded to that request vide order dated 31st January, 2014 and extended the time to vacate until 30th June, 2014. NTC filed a fresh undertaking on 24th March, 2014, with the approval of the Union of India, in compliance of the order dated 31st January, 2014. 13. NTC has filed a fresh application on 27th June, 2014 before the expiry of the time to vacate, being I.A. No. 6 of 2014 for directions and praying for the following reliefs: PRAYERS: (a) To grant time to the Applicants herein to comply with all the laws, rules, Regulations as required for sub-division of the said land so that the land of the Respondent as well as Applicant could be demarcated and sub-divided; (b) That this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to declare the Order dated 5.8.2006 of the Hon'ble Small Causes Court as regards the handling over of the building structure standing on the said suit land does....
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....is too late in the day to permit Union of India or NTC to raise that plea. It is not open for the review court to travel beyond the pleadings in the written statement filed by NTC. No evidence can be led either by Union of India or NTC in respect of any factual matter which has not been pleaded in the written statement. The plea taken by NTC in the written statement has been duly considered right up to this Court, which culminated into the decision of this Court. In fact, the review petition by Union of India is a subterfuge so as to circumvent the decree of possession passed against NTC in respect of the suit premises, and moreso, in defiance of the undertaking already given to this Court, with the approval of the Union of India, to hand over peaceful and vacant possession. According to the Respondents, the review petition by Union of India as well as the application for extension of time by NTC are nothing but an abuse of the process of the Court and must be dismissed. The Respondents have also invited our attention to the interim orders passed by this Court in the present proceedings and would contend that the Commission's Report exposes the stand taken by NTC that the suit ....
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....considered the question as to whether the Government is a tenant or whether NTC can be termed as "Government" or "Government Department" or "Agent" of the Central Government in the context of the 1999 Act. The Court, in unambiguous terms held that NTC could neither be treated as "Government" or "Government Department" nor could it be treated as an "Agent" of the Central Government. Whereas, NTC was controlled by the provisions of the 1995 Act and not by the Central Government. The Court also considered the purport of the expression "vesting" and noted that the Trust had rented out the suit premises to Podar Mills and what had vested was that right, title and interest of the Podar Mills and nothing else. It will be apposite to reproduce paragraphs 42 and 43 of the judgment under review, which rejects the claim of NTC in the following words: 42. It is not permissible for the Appellant to canvass that the Central Government has any concern so far as the tenancy rights are concerned. Right vested in the Central Government stood transferred and vested in the Appellant. Both are separate legal entities and are not synonymous. The Appellant being neither the Government nor the go....
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....ating that even a third party to the proceedings, if he considers himself an aggrieved person, may take recourse to the remedy of review petition. The quintessence is that the person should be aggrieved by the judgment and order passed by this Court in some respect. 20. The next question is whether Union of India can be considered as an aggrieved person so as to pursue the remedy of review petition. It is indisputable that the management of Podar Mills-Textile Undertaking was taken over by the Central Government after the commencement of the 1983 Act. The scope of management would obviously include possession and permissible use of the suit property of the Textile Undertaking so taken over. In due course, the 1995 Act came into force. As a consequence of Section 3 of this Act, the right, title and interest of the owners of the subject Textile Undertaking (Podar Mills Ltd.) including the statutory tenancy rights in relation to the suit property stood transferred to and vested absolutely in the Central Government. By the same provision, vide Sub-section (2) thereof, the Textile Undertaking which stood vested in the Central Government immediately thereafter stood transferred to and....
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....ORDER XLVII REVIEW 1. Application for review of judgment.- (1) Any person considering himself aggrieved- (a) by a decree or order from which an appeal is allowed, but from no appeal has been preferred, (b) by a decree or order from which no appeal is allowed, or (c) by a decision on a reference from a Court of Small Causes, and who, from the discovery of new and important matter or evidence which, after the exercise of due diligence, was not within his knowledge or could not be produced by him at the time when the decree was passed or order made, or on account of some mistake or error apparent on the face of the record or for any other sufficient reason, desires to obtain a review of the decree passed or order made against him, may apply for a review of judgment to the Court which passed the decree or made the order. (2) A party who is not appealing from a decree or order may apply for a review of judgment notwithstanding the pendency of an appeal by some other party except where the ground of such appeal is common to the applicant and the Appellant, or when, being Respondent, he can present to the Appellate Co....
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.... 1953 SC 244 : 1953 SCR 773 as follows: When a statute enacts that something shall be deemed to have been done, which in fact and truth was not done, the court is entitled to ascertain for what purposes and between what persons the statutory fiction is to be resorted to and full effect must be given to the statutory fiction and it should be carried to its logical conclusion.' The statutory fiction was introduced to give full effect to Section 4 of the 1952 Act by conferring on the debtors and creditors the right to apply to the court for calculation and reduction of debt. It was realised that courts always passed simple decrees. It was noticed that mortgaged property was not and could not be charged under the decree. It was therefore appreciated that unless the words "charged under the decree" were deleted the Section could never give any relief to any landlord whose estate had been acquired. 12. This Court in the Bombay case referred to the observations of Lord Asquith in East End Dwellings Co. Ltd. v. Finsbury Borough Council, 1952 AC 109 that "If you are bidden to treat an imaginary state of affairs as real, you must surely, unless prohibited from ....
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....pal reasons; first, it is not a subsequent law. It is the law which all along was there from 1952. The deeming provision is fully effective and operative as from May 25, 1953 when the 1952 Act came into force. The result is that the court is to apply the legal provision as it always stood. It would, therefore, be error on the face of the record. The error would be that the law that was applied was not the law which is applicable. Secondly, Section 4 of the 1952 Act confers power on the court to apply the law notwithstanding any provision contained in the Code of Civil Procedure. Therefore the application through intituled an application for review was not so. The substance and not the form of the application will be decisive. 27. Applying the underlying principle and as jurisdictional issues have been raised which are essentially founded on the law enacted by the Parliament with retrospective effect containing a legal fiction and for doing complete justice to the parties, besides the power of review Under Article 137 of the Constitution, it is open to this Court to exercise its plenary power Under Article 142 of the Constitution. 28. Reverting to the judgment under review, it....
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....r apparent" postulated in the Rules governing the scope of review jurisdiction. 30. However, the legal situation has undergone a sea-change retrospectively after the coming into force of the Validation Act 2014. The Validation Act makes it explicit that the amendment to the 1995 Act specified therein shall be deemed to have been inserted on or from the date of commencement of the 1995 Act i.e. 1st April, 1994. The preamble of the Validation Act and the relevant chapter applicable to the case on hand, being Chapter III of that Act, read thus: THE TEXTILE UNDERTAKINGS (NATIONALISATION) LAWS (AMENDMENT AND VALIDATION) ACT, 2014 NO. 36 OF 2014 [17th December, 2014.] An Act further to amend the Sick Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Act, 1974 and the Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Act, 1995, in order to continue with the lease-hold rights vested in the National Textile Corporation on completion of the lease-hold tenure. WHEREAS the National Textile Corporation subserves the interests of the general public and the land continue to be in possession of the said Corporation; AND WHEREAS various other textile unde....
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....-section (3), no court shall have jurisdiction to order divestment from the National Textile Corporation of the property vested in it by the Central Government. 6. On and from the date of commencement of the principal Act, in Section 4, after Sub-section (7), the following Sub-sections shall be inserted and shall be deemed to have been inserted, namely: (8)Notwithstanding the fact that the textile operations have been discontinued in any textile undertaking being revived, shall for all effects and purposes be deemed that the textile operations are being continued and no suit or proceeding shall be instituted or if instituted be maintainable against the National Textile Corporation on the ground that it has discontinued such activity in the textile undertaking. (9) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the continued deemed vesting of the lease-hold land in the Central Government shall not affect, impair or in any manner prejudice the rights of the National Textile Corporation to prosecute or defend any proceedings as a subsequent vestee in respect of any such lease-hold rights and no such proceedings shall fail only on account of the non-im....
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....ons of this Act, as amended by the Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2014, shall be deemed to be null and void and notwithstanding such transfer, continue to vest in the National Textile Corporation under this Act. 8. (1) The Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2014 is hereby repealed. (2) Notwithstanding the repeal of the Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2014, anything done or any action taken under the principal Acts as amended by the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the principal Acts, as amended by this Act. 31. We may hasten to add that the validity of the provisions of Validation Act 2014 is not put in issue in these proceedings. As is noticed, the effect of the Validation Act 2014 is to incorporate Sub-sections (3) & (4) in Section 3 and subsections (8) & (9) in Section 4 of the Principal Act i.e. 1995 Act, with retrospective effect for all purposes, by a deeming provision, as if it had always been in force at all material times w.e.f. 1st April, 1994. In addition, Section 39 has been inse....
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....freed and discharged from any trust, obligation mortgage, charge, lien and all other incumbrances affecting it, and any attachment, injunction or decree or order of any court or other authority restricting the use of such property in any manner shall be deemed to have been withdrawn. (3) Where any licence or other instrument in relation to a textile undertaking had been granted at any time before the appointed day to the owner by the Central Government or a State Government or any other authority, the National Textile Corporation shall, on and from such date, be deemed to be substituted in such licence or other instrument in place of the owner referred to therein as if such licence or such other instrument had been granted to it and shall hold such licence or the textile undertaking specified in such other instrument for the remainder of the period for which the owner would have held such licence or the textile undertaking under such other instrument. (4) Every mortgagee of any property which has vested under this act in the Central Government and every person holding any charge, lien or other interest in, or in relation to, any such property shall give, within su....
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....undertaking. (9) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the continued deemed vesting of the lease-hold land in the Central Government shall not affect, impair or in any manner prejudice the rights of the National Textile Corporation to prosecute or defend any proceedings as a subsequent vestee in respect of any such lease-hold rights and no such proceedings shall fail only on account of the non-impleadment of that Government. 33. Reverting to Section 3 as "amended" and which by operation of law had come into force with effect from 1st April, 1994, the right, title and interest of Podar Mills Ltd. in relation to the Textile Undertaking including in respect of the suit property, stood transferred to and vested absolutely in the Central Government. By virtue of Sub-section (2), all such right, title and interest of Podar Mills as vested in the Central Government Under Sub-section (1), immediately stood transferred to and vested in the Appellant NTC "except the leasehold rights in the suit property" which continued to remain vested in the Central Government. For, the amended Section 3(3) explicitly postulates that the leasehold rights of the Textile Undertaki....
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.... the said Act, any member of the tenant's family using the premises for the purposes of education of carrying on business, trade or storage in the premises, with the tenant at the time of his death, or, in the absence of such member, any heir of the deceased tenant, as may be decided in default of agreement by the Court. Explanation.- the provisions of this Clause for transmission of tenancy, shall not be restricted to the death of the original tenant, but shall apply, and shall be deemed always to have applied, even on the death of any subsequent tenant, who becomes tenant under these provisions on the death of the last preceding tenant.] In the 1999 Act the expression "tenant" has been defined in Section 7(15) as follows: (15) "tenant" means any person by whom or on whose account rent is payable for any premises and includes,- (a) such person,- (i) who is a tenant, or (ii) who is a deemed tenant, or (iii) who is a sub-tenant as permitted under a contract or by the permission or consent of the landlord, or (iv) who has derived title under a tenant, or (v) to whom interest in premises has been assi....
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.... (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in Sub-section (1), it shall also apply to the premises or, as the case may be, houses let out in the areas to which the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947 or the Central Provinces and Berar Letting of Houses and Rent Control Order, 1949 issued under the Central Provinces and Berar Regulation of Letting of Accommodation Act, 1946 and The Hyderabad Houses (Rent, Eviction and Lease) Control Act, 1954 were extended and applied before the date of commencement of this Act and such premises or houses continue to be so let on that date in such areas which are specified in Schedule 1 to this Act, notwithstanding that the area ceases to be of the description therein specified. (3) It shall also apply to the premises let for the purposes specified in Sub-section (1) in such of the cities or towns as specified in Schedule II. (4) Notwithstanding anything contained hereinabove, the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that - (a) this Act shall not apply to any of the areas specified in Schedule I or Schedule II or that it shall not apply to any one or all purpo....
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....ises held by a public trust for a religious or charitable purpose and administered by a local authority; or (iv) to premises belonging to or vested in an university established by any law for the time being in force. Provided that, before issuing any direction under this subsection, the State Government shall ensure that the tenancy rights of the existing tenants are not adversely affected. (3) The expression "premises belonging to the Government or a local authority" in Sub-section (1) shall, notwithstanding anything contained in the said Sub-section or in any judgment, decree or order of a court, not include a building erected on any land held by any person from the Government or a local authority under an agreement, lease, licence or other grant, although having regard to the provisions of such agreement, lease, licence or grant the building so erected may belong or continue to belong to the Government or the local authority, as the case may be, and such person shall be entitled to create a tenancy in respect of such building or a part thereof. The latter part of Clause (a) of Sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the 1999 Act makes it amply clear that th....
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....he 1995 Act which explicitly adverts to different types of rights enjoyed by the Textile Undertaking. "Leaseholds" is one such right separately noted. Since there was no "subsisting" leasehold right enduring in favour of Podar Mills, inevitably no such right vested in the Central Government. Whereas, the right transferred to and vested in the Central Government Under Sub-section (1) is only that of a protected or statutory tenant enjoyed by Podar Mills at the relevant time i.e. 1st April, 1994. That right vested in the Central Government is not saved in terms of Sub-section (3). Resultantly, the right of a protected or statutory tenant vested in Central Government stood transferred to and vested in NTC in terms of Sub-section (2) and continued to remain so vested in the NTC. If so, the relief of eviction or possession could be pursued by the Trust only against NTC. Further, admittedly, NTC did not enjoy the status of a statutory or protected tenant after coming into force of the 1999 Act and repeal of the 1947 Act. In that situation, the subject suit for possession against the Appellant NTC came to be justly filed before the civil court under the provisions of the Transfer of Prope....
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....ssee or under-lessee, or lessor or his legal representative accepts rent from the lessee or under-lessee, or otherwise assents to his continuing in possession, the lease is, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, renewed from year to year, or from month to month, according to the purpose for which the property is leased, as specified in Section 106. Illustrations (a) A lets a house to B for five years. B underlets the house to C at a monthly rent of Rs. 100. The five years expire, but C continues in possession of the house and pays the rent to A. C's lease is renewed from month to month. (b) A lets a farm to B for the life of C. C dies, but B continues in possession with A's assent. B's lease is renewed from year to year. 40. We must quote with profit the meaning of the expression 'lease', 'leasehold', 'leasehold interest', 'tenancy', and 'tenancy at sufferance'; as predicated in Black's Law Dictionary (9th Edn.). The same read as follows: Lease, n. (14c) 1- A contract by which a rightful possessor of real property conveys the right to use and occupy the property in exchange for ....
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....nancy exists without the landlord's assent. No rent, as such, is payable, but the tenant is liable to pay compensation for his use and occupation of the land. The tenancy may be determined [i.e., terminated] at any time, and may be converted into a yearly or other periodic tenancy in the usual way, e.g., if rent is paid and accepted with reference to a year in circumstances where the parties intended there to be a tenancy." Robert E. Megarry & M.P. Thompson, A Manual of the Law of Real Property 319 (6th ed. 1993). It will be useful to also advert to the expression 'Tenant' and 'Holdover Tenant' in Black's Law Dictionary which are as follows: Tenant, n. (14c) 1. One who holds or possesses lands or tenements by any kind of right or title. See TENANCY. [Cases: Landlord and Tenant-1] Holdover tenant: A person who remains in possession of real property after a previous tenancy (esp. one under a lease) expires, thus giving rise to a tenancy at sufferance.-Sometimes shortened to holdover. See tenancy at sufferance under TENANCY. [Cases: Landlord and Tenant-119(2).] 41. Indeed, if the matter in issue is to be decided dehors the provisions of ....
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.... 105. .......... Thus, the essential ingredients of a lease are: (a) there should be a transfer of a right to enjoy an immovable property; (b) such transfer may be for a certain term or in perpetuity; (c) the transfer should be in consideration of a premium or rent; (d) the transfer should be a bilateral transaction, the transferee accepting the terms of transfer. Relying on these ingredients, it was argued that the leasehold rights of Podar Mills had expired by efflux of time on 21st October, 1990. Since, Podar Mills had no subsisting leasehold rights, the vesting of right, title and interest of Podar Mills in the suit property as on 1st April, 1994 by virtue of 1995 Act was of other than leasehold rights. Whereas, Section 3 including the amended provision Sub-section (3) could be invoked only in respect of a subsisting leasehold rights acquired under the 1995 Act. We have already observed that even though the leasehold rights of Podar Mills had expired on 21st October, 1990, it continued to enjoy the rights of a protected or statutory tenant in terms of the 1947 Act and ascribable to "leasehold rights" referred to in Section 3(3) of 1995 Act. Therefore, the argume....
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....visions of the Karnataka Rent Control Act. In Gian Devi Anand v. Jeevan Kumar this Court has laid down that the termination of a contractual tenancy does not bring about a change in the status and legal position of the tenant unless there are contrary provision in the relevant Rent Act and the tenant, notwithstanding the termination of tenancy, does enjoy an estate or interest in the tenanted premises. It is further laid down that this interest or estate which the tenant continues to enjoy despite termination of the contractual tenancy creates a heritable interest in the absence of any provision to the contrary. This Court has also held that the legislature which by the Rent Act seeks to confer the benefit on the tenants and to afford protection against eviction, is perfectly competent to make appropriate provision regulating the nature of protection and the manner and extent of enjoyment of such tenancy rights after the termination of contractual tenancy of the tenant including the rights and the nature of protection of the heirs on the death of the tenant. 15. From these provisions, it would appear that except in cases covered by the two provisos to Sub-section (1) of Se....
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.... Section 22 of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 regarding suspension of legal proceedings etc. In the present case, it is not an assignment or transfer of interest by the statutory tenant but a case of involuntary transfer and vesting of the right, title and interest of the statutory tenant in respect of the suit premises in the Central Government by operation of law made by the Parliament. The purpose of retrospective insertion of Sub-section(3) of Section 3 of the 1995 Act is intended to take away the basis of the status acquired by the Appellant-NTC qua the suit property or the rights to be enjoyed in relation thereto. So long as the amended provisions of the 1995 Act or of the Validation Act 2014 are in force by operation of law, interest of Podar Mills as that of a statutory tenant stood transferred to and vested absolutely in the Central Government and would continue to so vest in it. The concomitant of this indisputable factual position is that the Trust could and ought to seek eviction of the Union of India from the suit property if it intends to do so, on grounds permissible under and in the manner prescribed for in the municipal Rent Legislatio....
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....ting beyond the period of contractual tenancy for which alone it is given. No separate discussion for the later decisions in the same line is necessary because of the same distinction in all of them. 18. One decision which requires specific mention and is obviously nearest on facts to the present case is Mahabir Prasad Verma v. Surinder Kaur. In that case, the contractual tenancy was for a period of one month from April 1, 1974 to April 30, 1974 with the landlord's consent for sub-letting. The tenant continued to occupy the premises even after expiry of the contractual tenancy on April 30, 1974 and inducted therein a sub-tenant. The landlord sued for eviction of the tenant on the ground of unlawful sub-letting of the premises which was a ground for eviction under the relevant Rent Act. There was some dispute about the time of induction of the sub-tenant, it being claimed by the tenant that the induction of the subtenant was in the month of April 1974 during subsistence of the contractual tenancy while the landlord contended that the sub-letting was after the month of April 1974. It was found as a fact that the tenant had sublet in the month of April 1974 when the writt....
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....-letting in the present case was after expiry of the contractual tenancy and after the commencement of the Act prohibiting sub-letting without the written consent of the landlord when it was made on April 1, 1948, while the sub-letting in Mahabir Prasad case was during the period of contractual tenancy when the express written consent of the landlord for sub-letting was available. The principle for application, however, is the same with the only difference in the result since in Mahabir Prasad case the sub-letting was made during subsistence of the contractual tenancy with the written consent of the landlord. It is significant that the judgment in Mahabir Prasad case was by A.N. Sen, J. who also wrote the opinion in Gian Devi case relied on by Dr Chitale as one of the decisions in line with Damadilal case. It is clear that A.N. Sen, J., who wrote the opinion of the bench in Mahabir Prasad case as well as in Gian Devi case did not construe the earlier decisions starting with Damadilal case in the manner read by Dr Chitale. If Dr Chitale is correct in his submission on this point, then the entire emphasis in Mahabir Prasad case on the sub-letting being made during the period of contr....
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....could be snapped only by resorting to the dispensation prescribed for in the rent legislation, as the concerned Rent Act continued to apply to the suit property -consequent to vesting of the rights and interest therein in the Central Government. 49. That takes us to the next argument of the Respondents that Section 39 inserted in the 1995 Act operates prospectively and would not impact the judgment delivered by this Court on 5th September, 2011. Second, the said provision applies to only subsisting leasehold rights. Taking the last argument first, the same needs to be rejected on the basis of the view already taken by us that the expression "leasehold rights" or "leasehold property" would include tenancy rights or tenanted property in occupation of a statutory or protected tenant as per the applicable municipal rent legislation at the relevant time. Be that as it may, Section 39 opens with a non obstante Clause and makes it more explicit that the provisions of the Amendment Act, 2014 shall have and shall be deemed always to have effect for all purposes as if the provisions of the Act have been amended by the said Act, had been in force at all material times. It then predicates t....
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.... of the amended Act was put in issue. In the present case, however, we are not called upon to examine the validity of the provisions of the Validation Act 2014. Whether such a legislation is valid or in excess of legislative competence can be examined in an appropriate proceeding. It is open to the Respondents (Trust) to challenge the validity of the Validation Act 2014, if they so desire. For the same reason, the decisions in Madan Mohan Pathak and Ors. v. Union of India (UOI) and Ors. (1978) 2 SCC 50 (in paragraph Nos. 9, 20, 21 and 31) and Shri Prithvi Cotton Mills Ltd. and Ors. v. Broach Borough Municipality and Ors. (1969) 2 SCC 283, will be of no avail to the Respondents. 51. In view of the above, we have no hesitation in concluding that it is not a case for taking contempt action for non-compliance of the direction of this Court inasmuch as the basis for issuing such direction has become non-existent in law. Similarly, the fact that NTC has already filed two undertakings with the approval of the Union of India, assuring to vacate the suit property, will be of no effect and cannot be enforced by operation of law. Further, the decree though validly passed at the relevant ti....