N S VISHWANATHA SHETTY Vs. K R SHIVASWAMY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Delay condoned.

(2.) Leave granted

(3.) The appellant herein is the owner of three shops situate in Kollegal Town, which is a town municipal council constituted as such under the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964. The appellant filed eviction petitions under the Karnataka Rent Control Act, 1961 (since repealed) for eviction of the respondents- tenants on the ground of bona fide need for personal occupation. Eviction was ordered by the learned Munsif. The District judge, Mysore confirmed the eviction order on a revision filed by the aggrieved tenants under Section 50 (2) of the said Act. Thereupon, the respondents filed further revisions before the High Court of karnataka under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure. During the pendency of revisions in the High Court, the karnataka Rent Act, 1999 came into force on and from 31st December, 2001. Before the revision petitions were taken up for hearing, the learned counsel appearing for the tenants filed a Memo stating that the premises in question was situate in a town municipal council area and, therefore, it was excluded from the purview of the Karnataka rent Act, 1999 and by virtue of Clause (c) of sub-Section (2) of Section 70 of the said act, the entire proceedings at whatever stage they were, stood abated. Accepting the submission made by the learned counsel for the tenants, the learned Single Judge held that the eviction proceedings stood abated. The learned Judge then observed that it would not come in the way of the landlord's right to initiate proceedings for eviction under any other law in force. The review petitions filed by the appellant-landlord were also dismissed with an observation that in view of the location of the premises (in the town municipal area) , "no useful purpose will be served even if it is held that only revision proceedings would abate and not the entire proceedings having regard to Clause (c) of sub-Section (2) of Section 70". After the dismissal of the review petitions, the special leave petitions giving rise to the present appeals were preferred by the landlord.