In Brief
A landlord sought eviction of tenants from a shop in Delhi under the Rent Control Act on the ground that the tenant had parted with possession without consent. The tenant's son entered into a partnership for a ration shop. Lower courts disagreed on whether this constituted unlawful parting with possession. The Supreme Court held that the tenant's allowing a co-occupant without the landlord's written consent amounted to impermissible parting with possession under Section 14(1)(b), justifying eviction. The Court need not determine whether the arrangement was genuinely a partnership or a disguised sub-letting; the parting with possession itself was sufficient ground for eviction. The Court directed the tenants to vacate within two months.
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