TIKAMCHAND MITHALAL JAIN Vs. M R NARASIMHACHARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a revision petition preferred under Section 25 of the Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) against the order of eviction passed against the Petitioner by the Rent Controller, Madurai in R. C. O. P. 569 of 1975 on the file of his court and confirmed by the Appellate Authority (Principal Sub Judge, Madurai) in C. M. A. 146 of 1977 on the file of his court.

(2.) The respondent, who is the landlord, leased out the petition premises some years ago on a monthly rent of Rupees 485/-, The demised premises comprises a portion of the ground floor, wherein the petitioner is having his business and the entire first floor, wherein the petitioner is residing with his family. The respondent sought the eviction of the petitioner from the demised premises under Section 10(3)(a)(i) of the Act, on the ground that one of his sons, by name, Radhakrishnan, who in a practicing advocate at Madurai, has married a lady doctor and they are, bona fide in need of the demised premises for their residence-cum-professional activities.

(3.) The petitioner resisted the petition for eviction on various grounds. He first disputed the quantum of rent and alleged that the monthly rent was only Rupees 225, and not Rs. 485. He nextly contended that since the demised premises had been leased out to him for residential as well as non-residential purposes, the landlord's application under Sec. 10(3)(a)(i) of the Act was not maintainable. He further contended that the son and daughter-in-law of the landlord were not genuinely in need of the building and the petition had been filed with an oblique motive, since he refused to pay the enhanced rent that was demanded of him by the landlord.