SHEIKH GULFAN TAPESWAR SAWOO J P OJHA FOR SELF AND KARTA OF JOINT FAMILY BRAHAMDEO OJHA SMT MATI BALA DASSI Vs. SANAT KUMAR GANGULI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short question which these six appeals raise relates to the construction of section 30(c) of the Calcutta Thika Tenancy Act, 1949 (W. B. Act No. II of 1949) (hereinafter called the Act'). This question arises in this way. The respondent Sanat Kumar Ganguli is the owner of a plot of land being premises No. 12, Haldar Lane, in Central Calcutta. This plot had been let out in several lots to the predecessors-in-title of the six appellants. On July 24, 1954, the respondent filed six suits Nos. 2245 to 224 of 1954 against the six appellants respectively on the original side of the Calcutta High Court, claiming decrees for ejectment against them and asking for arrears of ground rent and Municipal taxes.

(2.) The appellants contested the respondent's claim on the ground that the lands in suits had been taken by their predecessor-in-title from the owner as Thika tenants in or about the year 1900, and they alleged that they were in occupation of the said plots after having built substantial structures on them. The appellants further claimed that they had themselves let out portions of such structures to their own tenants. On these allegations, a preliminary objection to the competence of the suits was raised by the appellants on the ground that under S. 5 of the Act, a claim for ejectment of Thika tenants can be entertained only by the Controller, and so, the learned Judge on the original side of the Calcutta High Court had no jurisdiction to entertain it.

(3.) The respondent admitted that the appellants were thika tenants and did not dispute that normally, a claim for ejecting such thika tenants could be tried only by the Controller; but he urged that the present suits fell within the scope of S. 30(c) of the Act and in consequence, the provisions of S. 5 and indeed, all other relevant provisions of the Act did not apply to them. That is how the respondent sought to meet the preliminary objection raised by the appellants.