Supreme Court Directs Expeditious Disposal Of Landlord-Tenant Cases Where Trial Is Stayed By Allahabad HC
|The Court said that in cases where the High Court had stayed the trial, it should make an effort to hear and dispose of such matters as expeditiously as possible, since the stay of proceedings inevitably causes delay.
The Supreme Court directed the Allahabad High Court to prioritize cases where trial proceedings have been stayed, particularly those involving eviction, to curb delay tactics in landlord-tenant disputes.
A Bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice K.V. Viswanathan observed, “Although, we are mindful of the fact that there may be hundred of petitions pending before the High Court nevertheless, we are constrained to observe that where the High Court has stayed the trial in cases, particularly, pending between landlord and tenant, those cases must be heard expeditiously inasmuch as the stay of the trial or the original proceedings would inevitably, lead to delay in the conclusion of the trial and the entire proceedings thereafter.”
Advocate Atin Hinduja appeared for the Petitioner.
Brief Facts
The dispute being a tenancy dispute, the landlord, the Petitioner herein, submitted that owing to the interim stay of the proceedings, there had been no progress in the trial of the eviction proceeding. It was further contended by the Petitioner that the defence of the tenant had been struck off by the Trial Court.
Assailing the order of the Trial Court, the tenant filed a revision petition before the High Court, which stayed the original proceedings before the Trial Court. The Petitioner asserted that he was distressed as his endeavour to seek vacant possession of the tenanted premises had come to a standstill owing to the non-appearance of the tenant before the High Court.
The Petitioner further averred that despite the liberty granted to him to seek an expeditious hearing of the matter by an earlier order of the Supreme Court, there had been no progress.
Reasoning of the Court
The Court noted that it was aware of the pendency of matters before the High Court, however, observed that where the High Court had stayed the trial in cases, particularly, pending between landlord and tenant, those cases must be heard expeditiously. “…Stay of the trial or the original proceedings would inevitably, lead to delay in the conclusion of the trial and the entire proceedings thereafter.”, the Court added.
The Bench directed, “In the circumstances, we are constrained to observe that the High Court may take note of the aforesaid observations and endeavour to dispose of those cases where trial of the cases have been stayed by the High Court by hearing those cases out of turn and as expeditiously as possible and obviously, in accordance with law.”
Additionally, the Court directed that a copy of the order be placed before the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court for issuing appropriate directions/instructions.
Cause Title: Rajat Gaera v. Tarun Rawat (Miscellaneous Application No. 36/2025)
Appearance:
Petitioner: AoR Ashish Pandey; Advocates Atin Hinduja, Prateek Rai, Ashutosh Bhardwaj, Shubham Saxena, Adv. Akshit Chauhan