The Supreme Court has held that non-payment of house rent is not an offense punishable under the Indian Penal Code. With this legal arrangement, the court has quashed the FIR lodged by a landlord against the tenant. The landlord had registered a case of cheating and misappropriation with the police against the tenant as he had not paid the rent.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Bela M Trivedi observed that the consequences of failure to pay rent may be civil in nature but not criminal. The Supreme Court has given this decision while allowing the appeal of the tenant filed against the order of the Allahabad High Court. The High Court had refused to quash the FIR lodged by the landlord against the tenant. The bench said the option is open to the landlord to recover his outstanding rent through civil process.
Dismissing the FIR, the court observed that when the appellant tenant vacated the property and the rent is due, the question has been left open to be decided in civil proceedings.