Kerala High Court: The Division Bench of Hrishikesh Roy and A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar. JJ. dismissed a writ appeal filed by landlord against an order dispensing with the requirement of his consent, for renewal of his tenant’s trade licence.
A partnership firm (tenant) – Vijaya Jyothi Traders – had filed an application before the Thrissur Municipal Corporation for a D&O (Dangerous & Offensive) licence. The Corporation refused to consider this application on the ground that the application was not supported by landlord’s (appellant herein) consent which was the mandate under Sections 492(3) and 492(4) of the Kerala Municipality Act, 1994.
In a petition filed by the managing partner of the firm (respondent herein), it was averred that averred that since there were some disputes between him and the appellant-landlord, therefore obtaining consent letter from the landlord must not be insisted for consideration of the renewal of the licence. Learned Single judge allowed the petition and directed the Corporation to consider the subject application without insisting for consent from the appellant-landlord. Aggrieved thereby, the instant writ appeal was filed.
The Court noted that the learned Single Judge had taken note of pending suits between the landlord and tenant and had also provided an opportunity of hearing to both the parties. It relied on the judgment in Sudhakaran v. Corporation of Trivandrum, (2016) 14 SCC 263 where the Apex Court while deciding the on renewal of trade licence, stated that a tenant could not be deprived of running a lawful business merely because the landlord withheld his consent. A valid tenancy has implied the authority of the landlord for the legitimate use of the premises by the tenant.
In view of the above, the Court upheld the impugned judgment. [C.S. Babu v. C. Vijayan, 2018 SCC OnLine Ker 5783, Order dated 14-12-2018]
