In Brief
A landlord filed a suit against his tenant for arrears of rent and eviction under the Assam Urban Areas Rent Control Act. The trial court found that a landlord-tenant relationship existed (ruling for the plaintiff) but that the tenant was not in default of payment (ruling against the plaintiff), thus dismissing the suit. The plaintiff appealed but did not challenge the finding in his favour. The First Appellate Court improperly examined and reversed this finding without the defendants filing a cross-objection, violating procedural law. The Supreme Court found that the First Appellate Court lacked jurisdiction to examine a finding favourable to the appellant without a cross-objection and that the High Court erred in not noticing this error. The appeal was allowed and the case remanded to the First Appellate Court to hear the appeal afresh on only those issues decided against the plaintiff."
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