The landlord has been residing in Canada, but intended to settle down in India. Accordingly, the eviction petition was filed by him, which was allowed by the Rent Controller.
Dismissing a tenant’s plea and directing him to vacate the property of an NRI, the Punjab and Haryana High Court held that an NRI is not required to show any bona-fides to get his property vacated.
The bench of Justice Rajbir Sehrawat held that NRI is required to oly prove that he is returning to India. With this assertion he can recover the possession immediately. NRI Harcharan Singh had filed the eviction petition before the Rent Controller for eviction of the tenant (Harjit Singh) from his property at Jalandhar, claiming that he need the house for his own use after returning from abroad.
The landlord has been residing in Canada, but intended to settle down in India. Accordingly, the eviction petition was filed by him, which was allowed by the Rent Controller.
The petitioner/tenant, Harjit Singh, however aggrieved over the order, had moved to HC against the order of November 21, 2015, passed by the Rent Controller, NRI Cases, Jalandhar, whereby it was ordered to him to hand over the vacant possession of the demised premises to Harcharan Singh, (NRI), peacefully.
The counsel for Harjit Singh argued the attempt of the landlord to get the tenant evicted is not bona-fide as he is having other properties in India, and landlord has not disclosed in the rent petition that he owned other ancestral properties in India as well.
The counsel for landlord (NRI) in reply submitted that the petitioner/tenant was given on rent only the first floor of the property, he has grabbed even the ground floor claiming to be the care taker of the same. Since, the landlord is coming to India now, therefore anyone of the excuses being put forward by the petitioner should not be taken into consideration by the court.
Justice Rajbir Sehrawat after hearing the matter, said, “In case of NRI landlord seeking eviction under Section 13-B of the Act, the only factum which is required to be proved is that he is NRI and that he need the house in question for his personal requirement. On the basis of this assertion he can get the possession back immediately.
These facts need no special deposition or personal knowledge which could be within the specific knowledge of the NRI landlord only….No other requirement, like that of bona-fide personal necessity, as are required to be proved as a particular state of mind in case of an ordinary eviction petition under the Act, are applicable in case of the NRI landlord. NRI landlord is not required to show any bona-fide necessity as such. He is required to prove only the requirement by pleading that he is returning to India. With this assertion he can recover the possession immediately.” The HC dismissed the plea of petitioner with directions to vacate the property.
Source: Read Full Article