In Brief
A landlord purchased a leased building and sued the tenant for non-payment of rent, seeking recovery of possession and mesne profits. The tenant sought rejection of the suit, claiming the landlord had failed to issue a statutory notice as required under the West Bengal Tenancy Act, 1997. The Supreme Court held that the foundational dispute—whether the 1997 Act or the 1882 Transfer of Property Act applied—must be decided first as a preliminary issue by the trial court, rather than at the stage of rejecting the plaint. The appeal was allowed with directions to the trial court to frame and decide this threshold issue within six months.
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