Seventh Day Adventist Senior Secondary School vs Ismat Ahmed 2025 INSC 984 - West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act - Limitation Act

Limitation Act 1961 - West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997 - In general, the applicability of the Limitation Act is permissible subject to limitation prescribed under the provisions of the WBPT Act- If a lesser time period or limitation has been specified for proceedings under the WBPT Act, then extension of time applying the provisions of the Limitation Act cannot be allowed. (Para 21)

West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997 -Section 7- The compliance as required to be done by the tenant in Section 7(1)(a)(b)(c) and first part of Section 7(2) regarding deposit of rent and filing an application within the same time is mandatory. In default, they cannot avail the benefit of the proviso of sub-section (2) which only relates to the payment of determined amount of rent and whereby the Civil Judge may exercise the discretion to grant extension of time- When neither the rent as specified under Sections 7(1) and 7(2) has been paid or deposited by the tenant, nor the application for determination of rent has been filed within the period of thirty days as prescribed, tenant cannot avail the benefit of protection against eviction as envisaged under Section 7 of WBPT Act. (Para 21)

Interpretation of Statutes - The use of word ‘shall’ with respect to one matter and use of word ‘may’ with respect to another matter in the same section of statute shall normally lead to the conclusion that the word ‘shall’ imposes an obligation, whereas the word ‘may’ confers a discretionary power. (Para 26)