Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court on Feb 7 (order uploaded on Feb 9) ruled that an eviction decree passed against one joint tenant can be executed against all persons claiming under that tenancy, even if they were not separately made parties to the case.The court examined a tenancy created on Feb 15, 1949, at a monthly rent of Rs 5. After the original tenant’s death, family members continued in occupation but allegedly neither paid rent nor vacated the premises. The Rent Tribunal, in a Jan 16, 2016 judgment, ordered eviction in favour of the owners on grounds including substantial damage, sub-letting, and denial of the landlords’ title. During execution, the occupants objected that they were legal heirs and not parties to the eviction proceedings, and therefore the decree could not be enforced against them. The HC rejected the objection, holding that successors who derived possession through the tenant were bound by the eviction decree.A single bench of Justice Bipin Gupta said, “The objection raised by the petitioners that the decree is in-executable due to their non-impleadment is thus misconceived. Once a decree of eviction is passed against 1 of the joint tenants, it is executable against all persons claiming under the tenancy, including those who were not separately impleaded but derived their possession from the original tenant.”The court said that the writ petition was devoid of merit and was accordingly dismissed.The court said that the plea raised regarding an alleged oral sale of the property was wholly untenable and rightly rejected by the Rent Tribunal. “Such a plea not only runs contrary to the settled law requiring transfer of immovable property to be by a registered instrument, but also amounts to a collateral attack on a decree which attained finality.”
