A C ESTATES Vs. SERAJUDDIN AND CO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by special leave against the judgment of the High Court of Calcutta. The appellant is the owner of premises bearing No. P-16, Bentinck Street, Calcutta. It had let out a suit on the second floor of the premises on a monthly rental of Rs. 66 to Gee Tsing Po. The exact date when the suit was let to Po is not on the record but it was sometime before June 1954. In June 1954, Po sublet the entire suite to respondent No. 1, M/s. Serajuddin and Company, which will hereafter be referred to as the respondent. In July, 1954, the appellant gave notice to Po terminating his tenancy with the expiry of August 1954. In September, 1954, the appellant filed a suit against Po praying for his ejectment on certain grounds under the West Bengal Premises Rent Control (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. XVII of 1950, which was then in force. That suit was still pending when the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, No. XII of 1956 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) came into force from March 31, 1956. Section 16 (3) of the Act gave certain rights to subtenants. As the appeal turns on the interpretation of that provision, it is necessary to set it out here:

(2.) The respondent took action under S. 16(3) as apparently the subletting to him by Po was not with the consent of the landlord, and made an application thereunder to the Controller on June 4, 1956 and prayed that the Controller should declare that the interest of the tenant had ceased and respondent had become the tenant directly under the landlord in respect of the suite in question. It was also prayed that fair rent of the premises should be fixed at Rs. 66 per mensem.

(3.) The application was opposed on behalf of the appellant and two main points were urged in that connection, namely,- (i) The tenancy of Po had been lawfully terminated at the end of August 1954 and the suit for his ejectment was pending in the Small Cause Court and therefore the respondent could not take advantage of the Act in 1956, for it never became a subtenant in law before the act was passed; and (ii) the respondent was not in fact the tenant of Po from before March 31, 1956.