In Brief
This case concerns the eviction of tenants from a Kolkata flat. The landlord sought eviction claiming the appellants' tenancy had expired five years after the mother's death in 2009 under the 1997 Tenancy Act. The High Court granted eviction based on an alleged admission in another case. The Supreme Court held that statements made in unrelated proceedings cannot constitute clear admissions supporting judgment without trial. More importantly, the Court ruled that the 1997 Act does not retrospectively extinguish tenancy rights inherited under the 1956 Act. Since the original tenant died in 1970, his heirs inherited heritable tenancy rights then, which cannot be removed by later legislation lacking express retrospective intent.
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