* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ RFA No.102/2018 and C.M. No.3956/2018(stay)
% 5th February, 2018
MS. SANGEETA @ SHAHEEN ….. Appellant
Through: Mr. Raj Kumar, Advocate.
versus
ABDUL GHAFFAR (DECEASED) THROUGH LEGAL HEIRS
….. Respondents
Through:
CORAM:
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE VALMIKI J.MEHTA
To be referred to the Reporter or not?
VALMIKI J. MEHTA, J (ORAL)
1. This Regular First Appeal under Section 96 of the Code
of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) is filed by the defendant in the suit
impugning the judgment of the Trial Court dated 25.9.2017 by which
trial court has decreed the suit filed by the respondent/plaintiff for
possession and damages with respect to suit property bearing no.4685,
Gali Razia Begum, Hauz Qazi, Delhi-110006. Trial court has awarded
damages at Rs.5,000/- per month.
RFA No.102/2018 Page 1 of 6
2. There is no dispute that the respondent/plaintiff is the
owner of the suit property and earlier one Sh. Ram Chander was the
tenant in the suit premises and on the death of Sh. Ram Chander, his
widow Smt. Shanti Devi became the tenant of the suit premises. The
appellant/defendant claims that she was adopted by Smt. Shanti Devi
and hence being the adopted daughter of Smt. Shanti Devi she could
not be evicted as the rent of the suit premises was Rs.40/- per month
and appellant/defendant inherited the tenancy rights under Section 2(l)
of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 and thereby Section 50 of the
Delhi Rent Control Act was a bar for the respondent/plaintiff to file
the subject suit in the civil court
3. After pleadings were complete the trial court framed the
following issues:-
“1. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to the decree of
possession in respect of one room, one latrine on the ground
floor of property bearing no.4685, Gali Razia Begum, Hauz
Qazi as shown in red in the site plan? OPP
2. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to mesne profits/user
charges @ Rs.250/- per day? OPP
3. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to a decree of
permanent injunction as prayed? OPPRFA No.102/2018 Page 2 of 6
4. Whether the plaintiff has no locus standi to file the
present suit? OPD
5. Whether the suit of the plaintiff is not maintainable in
view of PO No.2? OPD
6. Whether the plaintiff has no cause of action for filing
the present suit? OPP
7. Whether the suit of the plaintiff is barred under Section
50 of the DRC Act? OPD
8. Whether the suit has not been properly valued for the
purpose of Court fee and jurisdiction? OPD
9. Relief.”
4. Parties led evidence and which is recorded in paras 9 to
11 of the impugned judgment and which paras read as under:-
“9. In order to prove his case the plaintiff examined
himself as PW1. PW1 deposed on the lines of the plaint and
relied upon the following documents:-site plan which is
Ex.PW1/1; certified copy of the statement made by PW1 in the
earlier suit for permanent injunction and the order dated
03.02.2015 passed therein which are Ex.PW1/2; certified
copies of judgment and decree dated 30.01.1986 and copy of
the award dated 10.05.1985 which are Ex.PX (colly.); copies
of four rent receipts which are Ex.PW1/4 (colly.); copies of
translation of said rent receipts which are Mark D.
10. The plaintiff further examined Sh. M.A. Khan,
Translator as PW-2 and he proved the translation of rent
receipts Ex.PW1/4 as Mark D. The plaintiff further examined
Sh. Divya Prakash Gautam, Draftsman as PW-3 and he proved
the site plan of the suit premises prepared by him which is
Ex.PW1/1.
11. As against this the defendant examined herself as DW1
and deposed on the lines of her written statement and reliedRFA No.102/2018 Page 3 of 6
upon the original Adoption Deed which is Ex.DW1/1. The
defendant has further examined Shri Bashir Ahmed @ Babbu,
natural father of the defendant as DW2 who deposed regarding
the factum of adoption of the defendant by Smt. Shanti Devi.
The defendant further examined Shri Satpal Singh and Shri
Kripal Singh, nephews of Smt. Shanti Devi as DW3 and DW4
who corroborated the version of the defendant regarding
adoption of the defendant by Smt. Shanti Devi.”
5(i) Trial court has held the issue of adoption against the
appellant/defendant by holding firstly that the appellant//defendant
was admittedly a Muslim and hence under the relevant provision of
Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to
as „the Act‟) being Section 10 of the Act, adoption cannot take place
of a person unless the person who is said to be adopted is Hindu.
Therefore adoption of the appellant/defendant, who was a Muslim, by
the tenant Smt. Shanti Devi, did not result in the appellant/defendant
becoming the adopted daughter of tenant Smt. Shanti Devi.
(ii) Secondly, it has been held by the trial court that adoption
can take place by a female, but in case the husband of the female
Hindu is alive then consent has to be taken of the husband, but
admittedly there is no consent which is proved to have been taken by
Smt. Shanti Devi from her husband for adoption of the
RFA No.102/2018 Page 4 of 6
appellant/defendant, resulting in the adoption being not valid as
required by Section 8 of the Act.
(iii) Thirdly the trial court has disbelieved the adoption deed
stated to have been proved by the appellant/defendant as DW1/1
inasmuch as there was no proper identification of the thumb
impressions or signatures on the adoption deed and other related
aspects.
6. I completely agree with the aforesaid conclusions of the
trial court because adoption can only be of a Hindu as per Section 10
of the Act and the appellant/defendant was admittedly a Muslim and
therefore there could not have been adoption of the
appellant/defendant by the deceased tenant Smt. Shanti Devi. Also, as
required by Section 8 of the Act, no consent of the husband of Smt.
Shanti Devi was taken by Smt. Shanti Devi for adoption to be valid as
per Section 8 of the Act.
7. Also in addition to the reasoning that the
appellant/defendant failed to prove the adoption in terms of the
adoption deed, the record of the trial court also shows that no evidence
has been led by the appellant/defendant of her education record in
RFA No.102/2018 Page 5 of 6
which the appellant/defendant is shown as the adopted daughter of the
deceased tenant Smt. Shanti Devi and for which reason also, the trial
court has rightly arrived at the conclusion of the appellant/defendant
not being the adopted daughter of the tenant Smt. Shanti Devi.
8. In law on the death of a tenant only certain legal heirs of
the deceased tenant inherited tenancy rights as stated in Section 2(l) of
the Delhi Rent Control Act, and though a daughter who was living
with the deceased tenant and was dependent on the deceased tenant
would have been a legal heir under Section 2(l), however once there is
no legal and valid adoption of the appellant/defendant by the deceased
tenant Smt. Shanti Devi, in such circumstances the
appellant/defendant could not have inherited the tenancy rights. Once
the appellant/defendant was not the tenant, the bar under Section 50 of
the Delhi Rent Control Act did not come into play.
9. There is no merit in the appeal. Dismissed.
FEBRUARY 05, 2018 VALMIKI J. MEHTA, J
Ne
RFA No.102/2018 Page 6 of 6