Man caught on wrong foot during cross-examination

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: A man who denied that he was a tenant of a property was caught on the wrong foot in the cross-examination where he mentioned that the person who had filed the eviction petition against him was ‘the landlord’s son’.

Considering his answer in the cross-examination before the trial court, the High Court dismissed his House Rent Revision Petition stating, “If he is not a tenant, why he gave an answer that the petitioner is the son of the landlord Ganapathi Pai and the same has not been explained.

When such admission is extracted and considered by both the (lower) Courts, this Court cannot re-appreciate the evidence available on record.” Ananth G Pai had filed an eviction petition in 2011 against Gangadhar Nayak under the Karnataka Rent Act.

The premises rented out to Nayak was old and Pai wanted it to construct a godown for expansion of his business.

First denied relationship

Nayak denied any relationship of landlord and tenant between the two.

The trial court considering the available evidence held that there was a relationship of landlord and tenant between the two in 2018.

Nayak filed a revision petition against this which was dismissed by the Revision Court the same year. Nayak then approached the HC in 2019.

His petition was heard by Justice HP Sandesh who gave his judgment recently. The HC said that it cannot exercise revisional jurisdiction as the issue of landlord-tenant relationship was already established.

It rejected the contention of Nayak’s advocate that the statement in the cross examination does not prove the relationship.

“The contention of the petitioner counsel that the very admission that the petitioner in HRC petition is the son of his landlord Ganapathi Pai does not amount to an existence of a relationship between the parties.”