2011 (2) AIR Kar R 78

Karnataka High Court

Hon'ble Judge(s): Manjula Chellur, D. V. Shylendra Kumar, K. N. Keshavanarayana , JJJ

( A ) Karnataka Small Cause Courts Act (11 of 1964) S. 8 , Sch. Art. 4 — Karnataka Rent Act (34 of 2001), Ss. 3(C), 27 — Jurisdiction of small causes Court — Suit for ejectment of tenant from premises to which KR Act applies — Only ‘Court’ constituted under said Act alone has jurisdiction to pass order for recovery of premises — Courts of small causes cannot take cognizance of such suits. ILR 2007 Kar 3309, Overruled.Therefore, it cannot be said that Court of Small Causes can take cognizance only of such suits which are filed seeking ejectment of tenants of the premises to which KR Act applies. In respect of the premises to which KR Act is applicable, only the ‘Court’ specified under clause (c) of Section 3 alone is competent to make order for recovery of such premises on the landlord proving any one of more grounds enumerated therein. ILR2007Kar330 Overruled. (Paras 47116)

( B ) Karnataka Small Cause Courts Act (11 of 1964) S. 8 , 9, Sch., Art. 4 — Karnataka Rent Act (34 of 2001), S. 3(C) — Jurisdiction of Small Causes Court — Suit for ejectment from premises to which KR Act is not applicable — Is cognizable by Court of Small Causes — Term ‘ejectment’ would mean different from term ‘possession’ and they are interchangeable words — Suit for ejectment is not necessarily on par with suit for recovery of possession under general law. ILR 2007 Kar 3309, Overruled.In the context of the jurisdiction of Court of Small Causes to take cognizance of suits for ejectment in terms of Article 4, the term ‘ejectment’ would mean different from the term ‘possession’ and they are interchangeable words. Reading of Article 4 make it clear that the Legislature themselves, for the purpose of investing jurisdiction in the Court of Small Causes, have indicated that a suit for possession does not include a suit for ejectment as such, in the context of jurisdiction of Court of Small Causes, the term ‘ejectment’ is different from the term ‘possession’. This intention on the part of the Legislatures may also be gathered from the previous statutes which were repealed under this Act. As is clear from the Statements of Objects and Reasons attached to KSCC Act, this Act was modeled on the lines of The Provincial Small Causes Courts Act, 1887. Article 4 of Schedule to 1887 Act excepted from the cognizance of Court of Small Cause....