Vijayakumar Padamshi vs P.V. Antony

R. Basant, J.—A rent control petition filed against the Petitioner stands listed for trial. This was filed in 2010 and the same had come up for trial before the Rent Control Court. At that stage, the Petitioner filed an application for serving an interrogatory on the landlord. The Rent Control Court, by the impugned order, took the view that it is not necessary now, at this belated hour, to permit the Petitioner to serve interrogatory on the Respondent/landlord. The Rent Control Court noted that all the relevant details can be elicited in cross-examination of the witnesses on the side of the landlord. Apprehending that the grant of the prayer might lead to unnecessary protraction of the proceedings, the learned Rent Control Court with appropriate observations dismissed the petition.

The Petitioner claims to be aggrieved by the impugned order. According to the Petitioner, this Court ought to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution to interfere with the impugned order passed by the trial court.

We have considered all the relevant inputs. We may not agree with the Rent Control Court that all the answers sought to be elicited by serving interrogatory on the landlord are irrelevant. But even that does not persuade us to invoke our extraordinary constitutional jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution to interfere with the impugned order. We are informed by the learned Counsel for the Petitioner that the rent control petition stands adjourned now at the request of the learned Counsel for the landlord. Be that as it may, we are not persuaded to invoke our jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution. We take note of the observations by the Rent Control Court that all the relevant details can be elicited in cross-examination. If there be any unsatisfactory answers in cross-examination, needless to say, the Petitioner shall be at liberty to pursue further steps.

With the above observations, this original petition is dismissed.

Hand over a copy of this judgment to the learned Counsel for the Petitioner.