BASHIR KHAN Vs. SMT. QAMURUNNISA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition is directed against the appellate order passed Under Section 23 of the U.P. Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972. The Petitioner was a tenant of the building. The landlord applied for eviction under Section 21 of the Act on the ground of bona fide need. The Prescribed Authority allowed the application for eviction of the tenant. The appeal has been dismissed by the III Addl. Distt. Judge.

(2.) THE contention of the learned Counsel for the Petitioner is that the court below has not considered the relevant material produced before it while deciding the appeal. According to the Petitioner the landlord's need was not bona fide. The Petitioner urged that the landlord had already demolished and constructed the major portion of the building and there was no longer any bona fide need of the applicant for the accommodation in dispute. The tenant applied for the issue of a commission before the Prescribed Authority but the prayer was refused. In appeal again an application was moved and the appellate Court allowed the application. A commission was issued. The Commissioner filed his report about the accommodation in possession of the landlord. It is this evidence which according to the learned Counsel was relevant for the purposes of deciding if the landlord required the accommodation bona fide, and the omission to consider the same vitiated the finding of the court below that the landlord's need was greater than the need of the tenant.

(3.) THE question of comparing the need could have arisen, if at all, if the landlord's need was bonafide. Section 21 of the Act permits the eviction of a tenant only when the Prescribed Authority is satisfied that the building is bona fide required either in its existing form or after demolition and new construction by the landlord for occupation for himself or any member of his family or any person for whose benefit it is held by him either for residential purposes or for purposes of any profession, trade or calling, or where the landlord is the trustee of a public charitable trust for the objects of the trust. It is thus necessary that before the order of eviction is passed the Prescribed Authority and the appellate authority should be satisfied that the landlord required the building bonafide. The question of determining whether a landlord needs the accommodation bona fide will depend upon the accommodation in possession of the landlord and the need of the landlord for additional accommodation. This will require the consideration of the material that is placed before the court by the parties concerned. The Commissioner's report was a relevant material and it had to be considered by the appellate court while deciding the appeal.