The petitioner is tenant under the respondent in the disputed premises. The respondent filed R.C.O.P.No.1668 of 2007 on the file of XV Small Causes Judge, Chennai. During the enquiry while the landlord was examined, Ex.P.10 and 11 were marked which are the receipt issued by Municipality and rental receipts respectively. The petitioner filed an application before the Rent Controller under Rule 11 of The Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act 1960, to demark and reject Ex.P.10 and Ex.P.11 and the petition was resisted by the landlord. Ultimately, the learned Rent Controller dismissed the application.
2. In the affidavit, the petitioner has stated that Ex.P.10 and Ex.P.11 were not at all pleaded in the petition which are irrelevant and inadmissible documents and that Ex.P.11 is self-made document which does not bear any acknowledgement and hence both of them have to be eschewed by Court.
3. In the Counter filed by the landlord, the abovesaid allegations have been denied and further stated that only to gain time and drag on matter the petition has been filed and that the contentions do not bear any merits.
4. The learned Rent Controller dismissed the application by observing that there is no scope to allow the application and that all the documents are marked subject to proof of relavancy and the petitioner has got ample opportunity to question Ex.P.10 and Ex.P.11 through the mouth of P.W.1 through cross examination.
5. The petitioner preferred a Rent Control Appeal before the Rent Control Appellate Authority (II Judge, Court of Small Causes, Chennai). But the Rent Control Appellate Authority did not accept the contention of the petitioner and rejected the appeal without taking it on file. Learned Counsel for the petitioner Mr.K.J. Parthasarathy would assail the Order of the Rent Control Appellate Authority by stating that under misconception of law the Appellate Authority has rejected the appeal by stating that the order passed by the Rent Controller is not appealable. He draws attention of this Court to a decision of this Court reported in 1981 (2) MLJ 298 [T.N. Habib Khan, Prop., Hotel Impala and Impala Sweets vs. Arogya Mary Shanthi Lucien] wherein after referring and following various Judgments of the Supreme Court, this Court has concluded that the order passed by a Rent Controller in an Interlocutarhy Application is appealable one, since it adjudicates the rights of the parties. The operative portion of the Judgment goes thus:
"On the above reasonings it was submitted that the decisions in Central Bank's case, cannot be availed of in the case on hand and hence the finding of the appellate authority that the interlocutory order passed b y the Rent Controller in M.P.No.59 of 19812 is only a procedural one and as such no appeal would lie and the aggrieved party can canvass the correctness of the said order only if he happens to agitate the final order by way of an appeal should be vacated. I see great force in the above submissions made by the learned Advocate General. Accordingly, in view of the authoritative enunciation of law laid down in the various decisions cited above, I hold that the impugned passed by the Rent Controller on the question of admissibility of the documents in question is an appealable one, since it affects the rights and liabilities of the aggrieved party."
6. This Court is unable to take any different view since the order challenged is appealable one.
7. Having regard to the circumstances, this Court deems fit to allow the Civil Revision Petition with direction to the Rent Control Appellate Authority as follows:
The Rent Control Appellate Authority (II Judge, Court of Small Causes), Chennai, is directed to take the Rent Control Appeal on file and to proceed with in accordance with law. The parties are at liberty to agitate about the maintainability of the appeal at the time of final hearing. The lower Court is also directed to pass orders without getting influenced by any of the observations in this Order.
8. In fine, the petition is allowed. Connected M.P. is closed.
ggs To The Rent Control Appellate Authority (II Judge, Court of Small Causes), Chennai 600104