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Sep 15, 2011

Associated Hotels of India Ltd Vs RN Kapoor, [1960] 1


whether a transaction amounts to a lease or a license - "27. There is a marked distinction between a lease and a license. Section 105 of the Transfer of Property Act defines a lease of immovable property as a transfer of a right to enjoy such property made for a certain time in consideration for a price paid or promised. Under Section 108 of the said Act, the lessee is entitled to be put in possession of the property. A lease is thereforee a transfer of an interest in land. The interest transferred is called the leasehold interest. The Lesser parts with his right to enjoy the property during the term of the lease, and it follows from it that the lessee gets that right to the exclusion of the Lesser. Whereas Section 52 of the Indian Easement Act defines a license.

Under the aforesaid section, if a document gives only a right to use the property in a particular way or under certain terms while it remains in possession and control of the owner thereof, it will be a license. The legal possession, thereforee, continues to be with the owner of the property, but the licensee is permitted to make use of the premises for a particular purpose. But for the permission his occupation would be unlawful. It does not create in his favor any estate or interest in the property. There is, therefore, clear distinction between the two concepts. The dividing line is dear through sometimes it becomes very thin or even blurred

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