Rajesh Goyal Vs Laxmi Constructions & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)
The Supreme Court of India dismissed the appeal filed by the tenant and strongly criticized the conduct of proceedings that sought to reopen issues already conclusively settled up to the highest judicial level. The dispute concerned eviction from a tenanted premises under Section 21(2) of the U.P. Urban Premises Rent Control Ordinance, 2021 on the ground of non-payment of rent. The Rent Authority initially ordered eviction, which was affirmed by the Appellate Authority, the High Court, and subsequently by the Supreme Court through dismissal of a Special Leave Petition. The Court had also granted time to vacate the premises, which was further affirmed by dismissal of review and miscellaneous applications.
Despite these final findings, the tenant filed a restoration application before the Rent Authority, which was surprisingly allowed. This order was later set aside by the High Court. The matter reached the Supreme Court again through the present proceedings.
The Supreme Court noted that the landlord-tenant relationship and eviction order had attained finality through multiple judicial forums. It observed that the tenant’s continued attempts to reopen the matter, including filing restoration applications after dismissal of SLP and review petitions, amounted to gross abuse of the process of law and an attempt to overreach binding judicial orders.
