KALABHAI B DABHAI Vs. GORDHANBHAI G BHARAKHADA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a revision under Sec. 29(2) of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947 at the instance of the original defendants who were sued by the respondent-plaintiff landlord before the Rent Court under Sec. 28 of the said Act, for a decree of possession against them.

(2.) The respondent-plaintiff landlord had sued the defendants for a decree of eviction on three grounds, namely, that the first defendant who was the tenant had illegally sublet the suit premises to defendant No. 2 who was the sub-tenant, that the first defendant-tenant was in arrears of rent for more than six months on the date of the suit notice and had not paid up the arrears within 30 days of the service of the suit notice, and that the landlord required the suit premises for his bonafide and reasonable use.

(3.) The last ground viz. the landlord's bonafide requirement for personal use was not pressed before the Trial Court. However, on the other two issues the Trial Court, after framing appropriate issues and taking into consideration the totality of the evidence led by the parties before it, decreed the suit of the landlord on the ground that the first defendant-tenant was in arrears of rent for more than six months and he had not paid up the arrears within 30 days of the service of the suit notice, and that the first defendant-tenant had unlawfully sublet the suit premises to his sub-tenant viz. the second defendant. The Trial Court, therefore, passed a decree of eviction against the defendants.