# ·900 SANT RAM v. RAJINDER LAL AND ORS

- **Citation:** [1979] 1 S.C.R. 900
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1978-09-22
- **Bench:** V. R. Krishna Iyer, D. A. Desai, A. P. Sen
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/900-sant-ram-v-rajinder-lal-and-ors-7545
- **Pages:** 6

## Headnote

East Puniab .Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949, Sec. 13(2) (ii) (b), as applied
to Himachal Pradesh, construction of-Words & Phrases-"Used the building ...
for a purpose other than that for which it was leased".
The appellant, a harija-n by birth and a cobbler by vocation was the lessee of
a portion of a shop in Ram Bazaar Simla, since 1963, on an annual rent of
Rs. 300/-. On the landlord's petition for eviction of the appellant a tenant
under section !3(2)(ii)(b) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949,
as applied to Himachal Pradesh on the ground that the premises were being used
for a purpose other than the one for which they ~·ere let out, the Rent Controller
held in favour of the landlord. The appellate authority having reversed it, the
landlord went in revision before the High Court. The High Court set aside the
appellate decision and restored the Rent Controller's Order, inferenti:illy interpreting the lease deed that the lease being of ai shop the purpose must have been·
commercial. In appeal by special leave, the appellant reiterated his contentions
viz. that (a) there was no specific commercial purpose inscribed in the demise
and therr-efore it was not poosible to pootulate a drersion of purpose and
(b)
even assuming that the letting was for a commercial purpose, the fact that the
appellant had cocked his food or stayed at night in the rear portion of the small
shop did not offend against S. 13(2)(ii)(b) of the Act.
Allowing the appeal, the Court,
HELD : 1. While interpreting deeds and statutes two rules must be remembered.
The first one is "in drafting it is not enough to gain a degree of precision
which a person reading in good faith can understand, but it is necessary to attain
if possible to a degree of precision which a person reading in bad faith cannot
misunderstand".
The second more important one· for the Third World countries
is that statutory construction, so long as law is at the service of life, cannot be
divorced from the social setting. Welfare legislation must be interpreted in a
Third World perspective. [903ErGJ
The law itself is intended to protect tenants from unreasonable eviction and
is, therefore, worded a little in favour of that class of benefli.~inries. \Vhen ihterpreting the text of such provisions-and this holds good in reading the meaning
of documents regulating the relations between the weaker and the stronger contracting parties-the Court should remember that
"v:here doubts arise the Gandhian talisman becomes a tool of
interpretation; "whenever you are in doubt ....... apply the following
test.
Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you
may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going
to be of any use to him." [903G·H, 904A·B]
Moti Ram and Ors.
v.
State of Madhya Pradesh, (1979] I SCR 335,
applied.
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SANT RAM v. RAJINDER LAL (Krishna Iyer, J.)
901
2. The provisioo. of Section 13(2)(ii)(b) of the East Punjab Urban Rent
Restriction Act, 1949 has notlboen attracted. Even the legislature by a later
amendment of the definition of "non-residential building'' in its realism, has
veered round expressly to approve de jure what is the de facto situation prevailina:
in the urban &reas of Himacbal Pradesh. [905B, F-0]
3. The life slyle of the people shapes the profile of the law and not vice i·ersa.
Law, not being an abstraction but a pragmatic exercise, the legal inference to be
drawn from a lease deed is conditioned by the prevailing circumstances. The
intention of parties from which courts spell out the purpose of the lease is to be
garnered from the social milieu. Thus viewed it is difficult to hold, especially
when the lease has not spelt it out precisely, that the purpose was exclusively
commercial and incompatible with any residential u<;e,
ev¢n
o: a
portion.
[903D-li]
In the instant case, it is impossible to hold that if a tenant who takes out
petty premises for carrying on a small trade also stays in the rear portion, cooks
anQ eats,

## Text

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·900
SANT RAM
v.
RAJINDER LAL AND ORS.
September 22, 1978
[V. R. KRISHNA IYER, D. A. DESAI AND A. P. SEN, JJ.]
East Puniab .Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949, Sec. 13(2) (ii) (b), as applied
to Himachal Pradesh, construction of-Words & Phrases-"Used the building ...
for a purpose other than that for which it was leased".
The appellant, a harija-n by birth and a cobbler by vocation was the lessee of
a portion of a shop in Ram Bazaar Simla, since 1963, on an annual rent of
Rs. 300/-. On the landlord's petition for eviction of the appellant a tenant
under section !3(2)(ii)(b) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949,
as applied to Himachal Pradesh on the ground that the premises were being used
for a purpose other than the one for which they ~·ere let out, the Rent Controller
held in favour of the landlord. The appellate authority having reversed it, the
landlord went in revision before the High Court. The High Court set aside the
appellate decision and restored the Rent Controller's Order, inferenti:illy interpreting the lease deed that the lease being of ai shop the purpose must have been·
commercial. In appeal by special leave, the appellant reiterated his contentions
viz. that (a) there was no specific commercial purpose inscribed in the demise
and therr-efore it was not poosible to pootulate a drersion of purpose and
(b)
even assuming that the letting was for a commercial purpose, the fact that the
appellant had cocked his food or stayed at night in the rear portion of the small
shop did not offend against S. 13(2)(ii)(b) of the Act.
Allowing the appeal, the Court,
HELD : 1. While interpreting deeds and statutes two rules must be remembered.
The first one is "in drafting it is not enough to gain a degree of precision
which a person reading in good faith can understand, but it is necessary to attain
if possible to a degree of precision which a person reading in bad faith cannot
misunderstand".
The second more important one· for the Third World countries
is that statutory construction, so long as law is at the service of life, cannot be
divorced from the social setting. Welfare legislation must be interpreted in a
Third World perspective. [903ErGJ
The law itself is intended to protect tenants from unreasonable eviction and
is, therefore, worded a little in favour of that class of benefli.~inries. \Vhen ihterpreting the text of such provisions-and this holds good in reading the meaning
of documents regulating the relations between the weaker and the stronger contracting parties-the Court should remember that
"v:here doubts arise the Gandhian talisman becomes a tool of
interpretation; "whenever you are in doubt ....... apply the following
test.
Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you
may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going
to be of any use to him." [903G·H, 904A·B]
Moti Ram and Ors.
v.
State of Madhya Pradesh, (1979] I SCR 335,
applied.
r
/
1
~:,
SANT RAM v. RAJINDER LAL (Krishna Iyer, J.)
901
2. The provisioo. of Section 13(2)(ii)(b) of the East Punjab Urban Rent
Restriction Act, 1949 has notlboen attracted. Even the legislature by a later
amendment of the definition of "non-residential building'' in its realism, has
veered round expressly to approve de jure what is the de facto situation prevailina:
in the urban &reas of Himacbal Pradesh. [905B, F-0]
3. The life slyle of the people shapes the profile of the law and not vice i·ersa.
Law, not being an abstraction but a pragmatic exercise, the legal inference to be
drawn from a lease deed is conditioned by the prevailing circumstances. The
intention of parties from which courts spell out the purpose of the lease is to be
garnered from the social milieu. Thus viewed it is difficult to hold, especially
when the lease has not spelt it out precisely, that the purpose was exclusively
commercial and incompatible with any residential u<;e,
ev¢n
o: a
portion.
[903D-li]
In the instant case, it is impossible to hold that if a tenant who takes out
petty premises for carrying on a small trade also stays in the rear portion, cooks
anQ eats, he so disastrously perverts the purpose of the lease. A different 'purpose' in the context is not minor _variations but majuscule in mode of enjoyment.
This is not a case of a man switching over to a canteen business or closing down
the cobbler shop and converting the place into a residential accommcxlation, On
the other hand, the common case is that the cobbler continued to be cobbler and
stayed in the shop at night on days when he was running his sh0p but left for his
home on shop holidays.
A sense of proportion in social assessment is of the
judicial essence.
(9040-H, 905A-B]
[The Court directed the restitution into possession by the trial court under
section 144 C.P.C. within one month ignoring the fact that some other tenant was
inducted by the landlord.]
CIVIL APPELLATE JRISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 1526 of 1978.
Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment aad Order dated
9-8-1977 of the Himachal PradeSh High Court i.n Civil Revision No.
68 of 1976.
R. K. Bhatt and Mrs. Krishna Bhatt for the Appellant.
Hanlev Singh for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
KRISHNA IYER, J .. A small event may mark a great portent as this
tiny proceeding for eviction, from a mini-shop, of a little man, will
prese'ntly disclose.
The appellant, a harijan by birth and a cobbler by vocation, was
a petty tenant of the eastern half of a shop in Ram Bazar, Simla. The
original landlord passed away and his sons, the respondents, stepped
into his shoes as legal representatives.
He filed a petition for eviction
of the appellant-tenant under S.13(2) (ii) (b) of the East Punjab Urban
Rent Restriction Act, 1949, as applied to Himachal Pradesh on the
ground that the premises were being used for a purpose other than the
one for which they were let out. The Rent Controller having held in
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902
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1979] l s.c.R.
favour of the land-lord, an eviction order ensued.
The
appellate
authority reversed this fi.."lding and dismissed the petition for eviction.
The High Court, in revision, reversed tho:: appellate decision and restored the Rent Contro:ler's order. The cobbler-appellant, in the last
lap of litigation, has landed in this Court. The poverty of the appdIant is reflected in the chequered career of the case in this Court where
it was dismissed more than once for default i'n payment hut ultimately,
thanks to the persiste-.ace of the appellant, he got this Court's order
to pay the balance amount extended. He complied with that direction
and thus could not be prio"d out of the justice market, if we may use
that expression.
The short point for adjudication is as to whether the respondent
land-lord made ont the statutory ground for eviction, of having diverted
the building for a use radically ditlerent from tho~ one for which it
was let, without his ccrasent. There is no case of written consent put
forward by the tenant.
But he contested the land-lord's claim by
asserting that there was no specific commercial purpose inscribed i'n
the demise and, therefore, it was not poosible to postulate a diversion
of purpose.
Secondly, he urged that, even assuming that the letting
was for a commercial purpose, the fact that he had cooked his food
or stayed at night in the rear portion of !he small shop did not offead
against S. 13(2) (ii) (b) of the Act.
S.13(2) (ii) (b) reads:
"used the bui<ding . . . . for a purpose other than that
for Which it was loosed"
The factual matrix may be shortly projected; for as Mr. Justice
Cardozo luminously stated.
"More and more we lawyers are awaking to a perception
of the truth that what divides and distracts ns in the solution
of a legal problem is not so much uncertainty about the law
as uncertainty about the facts-the facts which generate the
law.
L~t the facts be k'1own as they are, and the law will
sprout from the seed and turn its branches
toward
the
light."(')
A cobbler-the appellant-was the lessee of a portion of a shop in
Ram Bazar, Simla, since 1963, on an annual rent of Rs. 300/- (i.e.
Rs. 25/- per month). Ex. P. 1, the lease deed, disclosed no purpose;
but inferentially it has been held by the High Court that the lease being
of a shop the purpose must have been commercial.
Possible;
~10t
(1) Benjamin Nathan Cardozo "What Mctficine can do for Law" address befor
the New York Academy of Medicine Nov. l, 1928-Readings in Law and
Psychiatry.
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SANT RAM v. RAJJNDER LAL (Krishna Iyer, J.)
903
necessarily sure.
The actual life-situations and urban conditions of
India, especially where poor tradesmen like
cobblers,
candle-stick
makers, cycle repairers and tanduri bakers, take out small spaces oh
rent, do not warrant an irresistible inference that if the lease is of a
shop the purpose of the lease must be commercial.
It is comma::t
know;edge that in the small towns-why, even in the big cities-little
men plying little crafts and possessing little resources take on lease
little work places to trade ahd to live, the two being interlaced for the
lower, larger bracket of Indian humanity.
You struggle to make a
small income and work late into the night from early in the mom and,
during intervals, rest your bones in the same place, drawing down the
shutters of the shop for a while.
The primary purpose is to ply a
petty trade, the secondary but necessary incideht ii; to sleep in the
same place since you can hardly afford anythihg but a pavement for
the creature needs of cooking food, washing yourself, sleeping for a
time and the like.
The life style of the people shapes the profile of the law and not
vice-versa.
Law, not being an abstraction but a pragmatic exercise,
the legal inference to be drawn from a lease deed is conditional by
the prevailing circumstahces. The intention of parties from which we
1>pell out the purpose of the lease is to be garnered from the social
milieu. Tlius viewed, it is difficult to bold, especially when the lease
has not spelt it out precisely, that the purpose was exclusively commercial and incompatible with any residential use, even of a portio:i.
Two rules must be remembered while interpreting deeds and statutes.
The first one is :
"In drafting it is not enough to gain a degree of precisioh
which a person reading in good faith can U':Jderstand, but it
is necessary to attain if possible to a degree of precision
which a person reading in bad faith
cannot
misunderstand."(')
The second ooe is more important for the Third World countries.
Statutory construction, so long as law is at the service of lire, cahnot
be divorced from the social setting.
That is why, welfare legislation
like the one with which we are now concerned, must be interpreted in
a Third World perspective. We are not on the Fifth Avenue or Westend
of London. We are i:i a hilly region of an Ihdian town with indigents
struggling to live and huddling for want of accommodation. The law
itself is intended to protect tenants from unreasonable eviction and is,
therefore, worded a little in favour of that class of beneficiaries. When
interpreting the text of such provisions-and thii; holds good in reading
I) L·n G!ntium Lex-Then and Now 1799, p. 7.
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904
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1979 j I s.c.R.
the meaning of documents regulating the r"lations between the weaker
and the stronger contracting parties-we m·1st remember what is an
earlier decision of this Court, has beeh obsen,,,d : C)
"Where doubts arise the Gandhia;~ talisman becomes a
tool of interpretation;
"Wh.,,never yon are in doubt ....
apply the following test.
Recall the face of the poorest and
the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself,
if the step yon con~"mplate is going to be of a·ny use to him."
If we remember these two rules, the conclusion is easy that there is no
exclusiveness of purpose that can be sp,lt out of the lease deed. That
knocks at the bottom of the case of the Ja·~.d-lord.
The circumstances are clearer as wo proceed further.
For \Wll
over a decade the tenant have been in occupation, cobbling and sleeping, in the same place on working days, but going home on days when
the shop is closed.
Indeed, the pathetic genesis of the residential user
ca-:mot be lost sight of. The cobbler's wife became mentally deranged
and he could not leave her at hom" lest she should prove a danger to
herself and to others around.
Being a harijan cobbler he could not
hire servants and so, in despair, he took his insane wife to the pbce
whore he was toiling on leather. He worked in the shop, cooked food
for his wife, slept there at night and thus managed to survive although
she died.a little later. "A bed by night a:ad i chest of drawers by day"
is not nnnsnal even in England, as those who have read Goldsmith
know.
Th•" dual uses of accommodation are common ehongh and, in
this case, the land-lord himself appears to have understood it that way ..
The evidence shows that the sympathetic father of the respondents had
not objected to the petitimer living in the premises and had even
provided a sink in tile shop to facilitate such user. Not that oral permission to divert the user to a different purpose is sufficient i'n the face
of the statutory requirement of written consent but that circumstance
of the land-lord's acquiescence over a long stretch of time reinforces
the case of the tenant tllat the purpose was two-fold.
The common
experie':lce of life lends credence to tllis case and none but those who
live in ivory towers can refuse to look at the raw realities of life while
administering justice. We are in the field of Poverty Jurisprudence.
It is impossible to hold tllat if a tenant who takes out petty premises for carrying on a small trade also stays in tile rear portion, cooks
and eats, he so disastrously perverts the purpose of the lease. A differH
ent 'purpose' in tile context is not minor variations but majnscule i':1
mode of enjoyment. This is not a case of a man switching over to a
(1) Moti Ram & Ors. v. State of M. P., [1979] I SCR 335.
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SANT RAM v. RAJINDER LAL (Krishna Iyer, J.)
905
canteen business or closing down the cobbler shop and converting the
place bto a resid•ontial accommodation.
On the other ha'nd, the
common case is that the cobbler continued to be cobbler and stayed
in the shop at night on days when he was running his shop but left
for his home on shop holidays. A sense of proportion in social assessme'nt is of the judicial essence.
The irresistible inference, despite the i':1genious argument to the
contrary, is that the provision of S.13(2) (ii) has not been attracted.
We aro comforted in the thought that our conclusion is a realistic one,
as is apparent from a subsequent amendment to the definition of 'nonresidential buildi·:ig which reads thus :
" ( d) "non-residential building" means a building being
U5ed,-
(i) mainly for the purpo&~ of business or trade; or
(ii) partly for the purpose of business or trade a'nd
partly for the purpose of residence, subject to
th·~ condition that the person who carries on
business or trade in the building resides there;
Provided that if a building is let out for residential and
non-residential purpose separately to more than one
porso·n, the portion thereof let out. for the purpose of
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building.
Explanation.-Whcre a building is used mai-:tly for the purpose of business or trade, it shall be deemed to be a
non-residential building even though a small portion
thereof is used for the purpose of residence."
Shri Bhatt raised an argume'nt that this provision was applicable
to pending proceedings. We do not have to investigate bto that question in the view we have already taken and note the amendment only
to indicate that the legislature, in its realism, has veered round expressly to approve de jure what is the de facto situation prevailing in the ·
urba':l areas of Himachal Pradesh.
In this view, the appeal is allowed with costs.
The tenant shall
not be ejected. If he has been, as in this case it is stated he has been,
the tenant shall be restituted into possession by the trial court under
S. 144, C.P.C. within one month ignoring the fact that some other
tenant is inducted by the landlord.
S.R.
Appeal allowed.
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