K.M. VENKATARAMAN CHETTIAR AND SONS, BY ITS MANAGING PARTNER K.V. NAGASUBRAMANIAM Vs. N.G. KUTRAM KASTHURI RANGIAH CHETTIAR CHARITY ESTATE TRICHY REPRESENTED BY ITS TRUSTEE T.R. KARUNAKARAN AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Defendant against whom an order of eviction has been passed is the Appellant in this second appeal.

(2.) The Suit property, a building, of which the Appellant was a tenant, belonging to the Plaintiff -trust. A petition for eviction was filed in House Rent Control Original Petition No. 328 of 1978 on the file of the Rent Controller by the Plaintiff -trust against the Appellant on the ground that he is in arrears of rent and has also sublet a portion of the building. An order for eviction was passed. When the appeal was pending G.O. Ms. No. 1998, dated 12th August, 1974 was passed exempting all buildings belonging to religious endowments from the operation of the Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act. The appeal was therefore dismissed and later the Respondent filed the suit after giving a valid notice to the Defendant.

(3.) The suit was resisted by the Defendant, who inter alius eon -tended that the first Plaintiff is not the trustee of the Plaintiff -trust, that the Plaintiff -trust is neither a religious trust for a charitable institution, and that G.O. Ms. No. 1998, dated 20th August, 1974 will not apply. The trial Court has observed that the Plaintiff has admitted that it is private -trust and that the G.O. does not make a distinction between public and private trusts and therefore the Plaintiff is entitled to claim exemption from the provision of the Rent Control Act and in the end decreed the suit. In appeal, the District Judge, without discussing the question at issue, concurred with the finding of the trial court and dismissed the appeal. The Appellant challenges that judgment and decree in this second appeal.