The Supreme Court ruled that a landlord can file separate lawsuits; one to regain possession of the property and another to claim unpaid rent. The court reasoned that these are distinct legal issues requiring separate adjudication.
- The landlord and tenant had a warehouse rental agreement. The tenant fell behind on payments. The landlord asked the tenant to leave the warehouse and pay the owed money. They started a legal case to get the warehouse back. The tenant argued that they owed less money than the landlord claimed. They also started a separate case saying the landlord gave them a smaller warehouse than promised.
- The landlord has filed 2 suits against the tenant. One focused on regaining possession of the property itself. The landlord wanted the tenant evicted from the warehouse. Another targeted the financial aspects. The landlord aimed to recover the money owed by the tenant. This included unpaid rent often called arrears, and any damages caused by the tenant’s continued use of the warehouse beyond the allowed period.
- The court clarified that separate suits are allowed because these are two different legal issues. A lawsuit to get possession back is about regaining control of the property, while a lawsuit for rent arrears is about recovering money owed.
- The court also explained that a rule called “Order 2 Rule 2” prevents people from splitting up one legal issue into multiple lawsuits. However, this rule doesn’t apply when the issues are different, like getting possession back and recovering money owed.
The initial lawsuit for possession did not prevent them from later pursuing the monetary claims. The appellant, who owes a significant amount of money, is intentionally delaying the legal process.
Justice Vikram Nath’s judgment relied on a previous Supreme Court case involving Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd v. ATM Constructions Pvt Ltd In that earlier case, the court decided that seeking possession of property and claiming damages for its use are two separate legal issues. The court clarified that Order II Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which generally prevents splitting a single legal issue into multiple lawsuits does not apply when the claims are based on different legal grounds in the Bharat Petroleum case. Therefore, a landlord can file a separate lawsuit for damages after recovering possession. The current case followed this precedent.
CASE NAME: UNIWORLD LOGISTICS PVT LTD VS. INDEV LOGISTICS PVT LTD
NAME : J. RANI SANGAMITHRA, BALLB(HONS),SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE IN LAW(TAMILNADU DR AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY),INTERN UNDER LEGAL VIDHIYA.
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