LAW FOR ALL

The subject premises are said to be residential premises. One of the essential conditions to be tenant after the tenant's death in the case of residential building is that such person must be heir of the deceased tenant. = The parties are admittedly governed by Hindu law. The applicant's father, who is respondent No. 2, is alive. In other words, the deceased tenant is survived by his son - Jitendra Kumar Gupta (respondent No. 2). Since the applicant (respondent No. 1) is not a son of pre-deceased son, he is not a heir of his deceased grand-father under Section 8 read with the Schedule of the Hindu Succession Act. The High Court clearly erred in not taking into consideration the first requirement of the definition of 'tenant' whether or not the applicant was the heir of the deceased tenant. As noted above, the applicant is not a heir of deceased tenant and, therefore, he cannot be held to be a joint tenant along with respondent No. 2 in the subject premises. 8. Appeal is allowed accordingly. The impugned order of the High Court dated May 11, 2011 is set aside and the order dated March 9, 2011 passed by the prescribed authority is restored. 9. The prescribed authority is requested to decide the eviction proceedings as expeditiously as may be possible. 10. No costs.