FIRM AMAR NATH BASHESHAR DASS Vs. TEK CHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The respondent who was constructing a building, had leased it out on a monthly tenancy to the appellant on the 1st November 1959. The building was ultimately completed in March 1960. On 14-1-1963 he filed a suit and got a decree for ejectment on 14-8-1969. On 29-8-1969 he filed an execution petition but the executing Court dismissed it on 16-4-1970 on the ground that the conditions prescribed in the notification of the Government of Punjab under section 3 of the Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act 1949 (hereinafter called 'the Act') dated 30-7-1965, exempting such decrees from section 13 of the said Act were not complied with. An appeal against this judgment was unsuccessful. On a second appeal the High Court held that the decree was executable inasmuch as that decree was exempted under the notification. This appeal is by special leave against that judgment.

(2.) Before we notice the conditions prescribed for the exemption of decrees of eviction against tenants from the provisions of the Act, it is necessary to refer to Section 13 of the Act in so far as it is relevant and the notification exempting decree obtained by certain categories of landlord from those provisions. It is well known that due to the non-availability of housing accommodation in urban areas and the consequent hardship to tenants who were already occupying buildings on lease, almost all the State enacted legislation by and under which the landlords' rights to evict tenants as well as the right to recover higher exorbitant rents were considerably cut down. The main scheme of these Acts generally was to make it obligatory on landlords intending to evict tenants to make applications before the authority prescribed under the Act only on the grounds specified in the particular legislation. The Rent Control Authority alone could make an enquiry and order eviction. The jurisdiction of the civil Courts was taken away. In some of the States, such as in Uttar Pradesh, civil courts were allowed to entertain eviction suits but subject to prior leave being obtained from the District Magistrate. In other words, in that State two rounds of litigation were provided for. Similarly, applications for fixation of fair rent where the rent charged was considered to be exorbitant could also be made before these authorities. These restrictions could not, however, serve as a panacea for solving the accommodation problem in urban cities consequent on the phenomenal migration of population into those area which was further aggravated by large scale exodus due to the partition of India. It, therefore, became necessary for each of the State Governments not only to undertake building schemes itself but also to encourage persons who had the means to build by exempting newly constructed buildings which were let out to tenants from rent control restrictions for a particular period. One of such legislations is the Act with which we are now concerned. Unlike other Rent Control legislations, this Act adopts rather a novel method, in that while it permits suits being filed and decrees obtained, it places restrictions against their execution except on specified grounds. In this case, however, we are not concerned with the novelty of the legislation or the hardship, expense and delay which is caused to the landlord or the tenant by the innovation adopted by it. We may now read the relevant provisions of Section 13 which are as under:

(3.) The Government under section 3 has been empowered to direct that all or any of the provisions of the Act shall not apply to any particular building or rented land or any class of building or rented lands. Pursuant to this power, the State Government was notifying exemptions from time to time during a period of 20 years, the first notification it appears having been issued on the 8th March 1951 which exempted buildings constructed in 1951 and 1952 from the provisions of the Act for a period of 5 years with effect from the date of completion of any such building. Thereafter followed several notifications which exempted buildings constructed in each of the years after 1952. The notification with which we are now concerned was issued on 30-7-1965 and is in the following terms: