Recently, the Allahabad High Court has clarified that landlords cannot be shut out of the rent adjudication system merely because a tenancy was never reduced to writing, holding that rent authorities under the Uttar Pradesh Regulation of Urban Premises Tenancy Act, 2021 retain full jurisdiction to hear eviction applications even in the absence of a formal agreement.
The case arose from a set of writ petitions raising a core jurisdictional challenge, whether the Rent Authority could proceed with eviction applications in situations where no written tenancy agreement had been executed, and the landlord had not furnished tenancy details as envisaged under the 2021 law. Tenants contended that failure to comply with these procedural requirements deprived the authority of competence to act. Landlords, on the other hand, maintained that such an interpretation would undermine the legislative framework, especially given the prevalence of informal tenancy arrangements across the state.
Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal held that statutory intent must be gathered from the scheme of the law as a whole. The Court observed that “the jurisdiction of rent authority under the Act of 2021 cannot be narrowed down only in cases of written agreement and its intimation to rent authority.” It noted that the legislature deliberately avoided incorporating harsh consequences found in the Central Model Tenancy Act, ensuring that landlords are not denied access to eviction remedies due to documentation lapses. Interpreting Section 9 in context, the Court concluded that the Rent Authority remains competent to hear eviction pleas even where no written agreement exists, or particulars were not furnished.
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