DAVIS Vs. SEBASTIAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is from the judgment and order of the Division Bench of the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in C. R. P. No. 1778 of 1991-C, dated July 28, 1994. The polemic centres round interpretation of the expression 'personal use' in sub-section (8) of Section 11 of the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965 (for short 'the Kerala Act').

(2.) A brief narration of the facts giving rise to this appeal is necessary to appreciate the question involved in this case. The question of bona fide requirement of additional accommodation under Section 11(8) of the Act alone is canvassed before us so we are confining the facts relevant to that ground. The appellant is the landlord and the respondent is the tenant of a shop room which is a portion of the main building of Irinjalakkuda Village, Mukundapuram Taluk, (hereinafter referred to as 'the premises'). In the main building the appellant was running the business of hotel-cum-bar. On the plea that he had made all preparations for starting a jewellery shop and a textile shop and bona fide requires additional accommodation for the proposed business, he filed R. C. P. No. 31 of 1983 seeking eviction of the respondent from the premises. The ground of bona fide requirement of the appellant for additional accommodation was opposed by the respondent. He averred that he was running a provision shop in the premises which was his sole source of income for his livelihood and the appellant was having other vacant accommodation which he let out to others. The learned Rent Controller recorded the finding that the appellant was not in need of additional accommodation. It was also found that if the respondent was evicted from the premises he would be put to more hardship than the benefit that would be fetched to the appellant. In that view of the matter, the Rent Controller dismissed the eviction petition on 7th June, 1986. The landlord unsuccessfully assailed the said order before the Appellate Authority in R. C. A. No. 39 of 1990. Both, on the question of bona fide requirement of the landlord and on the question of comparative hardship, the Appellate Authority held against the appellant/landlord. Aggrieved thereby, the appellant filed C. R. P. No. 1778 of 1991-C before the High Court of Kerala. The Division Bench of the High Court dismissed the Revision on 28th July 1994. It is against that order of the High Court, the appellant is in appeal by special leave.

(3.) Mr. K. Sukumaran, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellant, invited our attention to sub-section (8) of Section 11 of the Kerala Act and argued that it enabled a landlord to claim additional accommodation for his bona fide personal use and that the High Court committed grave error of law in confining the personal use of the landlord to expansion of the existing business only.