IRFAN AHMAD Vs. I ADDL. DISTT. JUDGE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition is directed against the order of the Distt. Supply Officer, Rampur, allotting the premises in question to Jalil Ahmad Khan as well as against the order of the 1st Additional District Judge, Rampur, dismissing the revision and upholding the order of allotment.

(2.) THE dispute relates to a shop situate at Bazar Nasar Ullah Khan in the city of Rampur. Admittedly, the shop is one of the five shops which is waqf property of a Mosque of which Idris Ahmad Siddiqui, Advocate, is the Mutwalli. The shop in dispute was in the tenancy of one Rahat Jan. He died somewhere in September 1975. After his death Irfan Ahmad, the Petitioner, occupied the shop with the consent of the Mutwalli on payment of Rs. 25/ - as rent without obtaining any order of allotment in January 1976. One Jalil Ahmad Khan made an application before the District Supply Officer, Rampur, who was exercising the powers of the District Magistrate under the U.P. Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972, (hereinafter to be referred to as the Act) for the allotment of the shop in question. The Rent Control Inspector under the orders of the District Supply Officer made inspection and submitted his report to the effect that Irfan Ahmad was in occupation of the shop in question and was carrying on his business with the consent of the landlord. The District Supply Officer thereupon invited objections from the landlord and Irfan Ahmad, the Petitioner. Both of them filed objections and claimed that the shop in question was newly constructed and it was not subject to the province of the Act and, further since Irfan Ahmad was tenant in occupation of the shop with the consent of the landlord, there was no vacancy and no allotment order could be made. Jalil Ahmad Khan, the prospective allottee contested the claim of the landlord and Irfan Ahmad. After holding an enquiry the District Supply Officer by his order dated 14 -7 -1976 rejected the contention of the landlord as well as that of the Petitioner and allotted the shop in question to Jalil Ahmad Khan. Irfan Ahmad and the landlord both preferred revision applications under Section 18 of the Act before the District Judge, Rampur. The revisions were dismissed by the Ist Additional District Judge, Rampur by his order dated 19 -8 -1976 and the allotment order was held valid. Aggrieved the Petitioner has approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution for quashing the order of the District Supply Officer as well as that of the Ist Additional District Judge, Rampur.

(3.) LEARNED Counsel for the Respondent, urged that since proceedings for the eviction of the Petitioner were pending against him under Section 16 of the Act on 5th July 1976, the Petitioner's occupation was not regularised and he could not be held to be the tenant of the shop in question under Section 14 of the Act. The Act was amended by the U.P. Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction (Amendment) Act 1976 (U.P. Act 28 of 1976) (hereinafter referred to as the Amending Act). The Amending Act received the assent of the President on 1st July 1976 and it was published in U.P. Extraordinary Gazette dated July 5, 1976, the date on which it came into force. After its amendment Section 14 is in the following terms: