Whether licensee who has acquired the status of the deemed tenant as per S 15 A of Bombay Rent Act will retain their position under Maharashtra rent control Act?

  Mr. Wachasundar, secondly, submits that there is no case of deemed tenancy in the facts of the present case. Learned Counsel submits that the provisions of the old rent control law, namely, the Bombay Rent Act have been replaced by the new law of rent control, namely, Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999 ("Act"). Learned Counsel submits that since there is a wholesale repeal followed by a new legislation on the same subject, only those matters under the repealed law, which are saved by Section 58 of the repealing Act, would stand saved. Learned Counsel submits that deemed tenancies of original licensees are not saved under the provisions of Section 58. Learned Counsel relies on the Supreme Court judgment in the case of State of Punjab vs. Mohar Singh Pratap Singh MANU/SC/0043/1954 : AIR 1955 SC 84 in support of his submission. He also relies on a decision of Allahabad High Court in Mahabir Sugar Mills Pvt. Ltd. vs. The Union of India MANU/UP/0057/1975 : AIR 1975 Allahabad 239. Whenever there is a repeal of an enactment, consequences of such repeal, which are laid down in Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, follow, unless as the section itself says, the repealing Act evinces a different intention. What the Supreme Court said in Mohar Singh Pratap Singh's case is that in the case of a simple repeal, there is scarcely any room for expression of a contrary opinion, but when the repeal is followed by a fresh legislation on the same subject, Courts would undoubtedly have to look to the provisions of the new Act for the purpose of determining whether they indicate a different intention. When courts thus look to the provisions of the new law, they would actually be expected to read the new law as a whole to find out if it evinces any different intention, thereby ruling out the application of Section 6 of the General Clauses Act. Looked at it from this point of view, the new Act does not at all indicate that it seeks to do away with all legal consequences which have taken place under, or legal relationships born out of, the provisions of the old law. If anything, it actually affirms such consequences or relationships. The most palpable expression of such affirmation is in the definition of "tenant" in the new Act. Sub-Section (15) of Section 7 of the new Act, which defines the expression 'tenant', includes within it a person, who is a deemed tenant. Deemed tenancy is not provided under the new Act; it is a concept which can only be treated as having been borrowed from the old Rent Act. In other words, it provides that those persons, who had become deemed tenants under the provisions of the then existing law, are to be included within the definition of 'tenant' under it. Our Court, in the case of Hindustan Ferrodo Ltd. vs. Hari Lachman Hasija MANU/MH/0226/2003 : 2003 (4) Mh.L.J. 50, has considered this particular aspect of the matter. That was a case, where the petitioners before this court were in possession of suit premises as licensees as of 1 February 1973, claiming to have acquired the status of deemed tenant as from that date. The court held that their status as deemed tenant was not taken away or put an end to by virtue of the provisions of Section 58 or Section 3 of the Maharashtra Rent Control Act. The petitioners before the court in Hindustan Ferrodo were a company, which fell within the ambit of clause (b) of Sub-Section (1) of Section 3 of the new Rent Act, and thus, were not entitled to claim benefits, privileges or protection under the new Rent Act and yet, our Court said that the character or status acquired by them as a deemed tenant under the old Act continued and unless the same was put to an end by a procedure known to law, they could not be evicted from the premises. This clearly puts paid to any controversy in that behalf.{Para 7}

IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY

Writ Petition No. 7931 of 2019

Decided On: 19.05.2020

 EEPC India  Vs.  Additional Commissioner, Konkan Division and Ors.

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:

S.C. Gupte, J.

Citation: MANU/MH/0573/2020, 2020(5) MHLJ 585

Read full Judgment here: Click here