Punjab and Haryana High Court: A Single Judge Bench comprising of Gurvinder Singh Gill, J., dismissed a revision petition filed assailing the order of the Appellate Authority which in turn upheld the order of Rent Controller, Ludhiana, whereby the petitioner was ejected from the property in question.
The respondent filed an ejectment petition before the Rent Controller on the grounds that the petitioner-tenant had defaulted in paying the rent since June 2008. The petitioner contended that the respondent was not the landlord as he had taken the premises on rent from one Narinder Singh. The Rent Controller found that a relationship between tenant and landlord existed between the parties. And since the petitioner defaulted in paying the rent, petitioner was ordered to be ejected from the property concerned. The Appellate Authority confirmed the findings and upheld the order passed by the Rent Controller. Feeling aggrieved, the petitioner approached the High Court.
The High Court perused the record and found that the abovementioned Narinder Singh, in his examination, had stated that he had sold the property concerned to the petitioner. A power of attorney and a Will was also executed in favor of the petitioner. The Court did not find any registered sale deed proving the factum of sale; however, the abovesaid documents showed that there was some arrangement between the petitioner and Narinder Singh whereby the petitioner exercised the rights of the landlord. The Court held the law to be well settled that a person can be a landlord even without having ownership rights in the property. The High Court did not find any infirmity in the impugned order and the revision petition was thereby dismissed. [Ashok Kumar v. Piara Singh, 2018 SCC OnLine P&H 733, dated 29-05-2018]
