DASAN Vs. JANARDHANAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A tenant against whom an order of eviction under S.11(3) of the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965 ('the Act' for short) is passed concurrently by the Rent Control Court and the Appellate Authority is the petitioner in this revision under S.20 of the Act.

(2.) The parties will be referred to for convenience as the landlord and tenant. The need projected by the landlord in the Rent Control Petition is that he has two sons by name K. V. Arun Kumar and K. V. Anek. Both of them are married and have children. Differences of opinion cropped up between them through their wives. The landlord is suffering from heart diseases and is undergoing treatment at Kovai Medical Centre, Coimbatore. To avoid bickerings in the family, the landlord needs to accommodate his son Anek and his family in the petition schedule building. Sri. Anek is a dependent of the landlord for the purpose of getting accommodation.

(3.) The landlord's claim was resisted by the tenant who contended that the need projected was only a pretext for eviction. The averment that there were differences of opinion between the wives of the sons or between the sons was disputed. It was contended that the landlord has several other buildings belonging to him and if at all he needs, he can provide his son with any of those buildings. The evidence at trial consisted of the oral testimonies of PW 1, the landlord himself and PW 2 Anek, the son for whom the building was claimed by the landlord and the oral testimony of the tenant as RW 1. The documentary evidence on either sides consisted of Exts. A1 to A6 and B1 to B6. Apart from that, there was Ext. C1 Commission report. The Rent Control Court on evaluation of the evidence found that the need put forward by the landlord was a bona fide one. That Court also found that there was no evidence to hold that other suitable vacant buildings were available with the landlord for accommodating his son Anek and family. Accordingly order of eviction was passed under S.11(3). The Rent Control Appellate Authority on reappreciating the evidence would agree with all the conclusions of the Rent Control Court and accordingly confirmed the order of eviction passed by the Rent Control Court.