Whether landlord is barred from filing suit on ground of non payment of arrears of rent after filing eviction suit on ground of bonafide need?

As regards the submission pertaining to Order II Rule 2 of the CPC, the Courts below have correctly analyzed the said provision and applied it to the facts of the present case. A landlord is entitled to seek a decree of eviction against the tenant under various provisions specified in the aforesaid Act. The causes of action available for the landlord under the various statutory provisions of the said Act are clearly distinct and separate. Therefore, it cannot be said that when the landlord filed the suit for eviction on the ground of bona fide need, he ought to have included all the grounds for eviction that may have been available to him. In fact, the cause of action for arrears of rent specifically arises only when the contingencies contemplated in Section 15 of the said Act occur. Therefore, in a given case, although the landlord may claim that a cause of action on the ground of bona fide need has accrued to him, it is not necessary that at the very same time a cause of action for grant of decree of eviction on the ground of arrears of rent has arisen. The petitioner was not justified in claiming that failure on the part of the respondents to invoke the ground of arrears of rent in the earlier suit filed for grant of decree on the ground of bona fide need, was fatal and that subsequent suit could not have been filed. The Courts below have correctly applied the provision of Order II Rule 2 of the CPC to reject the said contention raised on behalf of the petitioner.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY (NAGPUR BENCH)

Writ Petition No. 279 of 2016

Decided On: 11.09.2018

 Ataullahkhan Vs.   Kernath Jaywantrao Nagargoje and Ors.

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:

Manish Pitale, J.

Citation: 2019(2) MHLJ 471.

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