BAL KRISHNA BAJAJ Vs. DISTRICT JUDGE ALLAHABAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ORDERS passed in proceedings initiated under section 24-B of U. P. Act 13 of 1972 are under challenge in this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) PETITIONER is a tenant of a building in Nevada Colony, Allahabad for the last more than 20 years. It was purchased by respondent no. 4 who is the wife of respondent no. 3 on 9-6-1986. The respondent no. 3, husband of the landlady, was, at that time, Senior Civil Engineer, Railway Electrification at Allahabad and was residing with his family in a Railway flat belonging to the Railway Administration at Allahabad. After his wife had purchased the disputed building, respondent no. 3 was served with a notice to vacate the Railway flat. Consequently, the respondent no. 4 made an application under section 24-B for recovery of immediate possession of the building. The application was opposed on several grounds but ultimately the same was allowed on 10-10- 198,8. A revision by the petitioner was dismissed on 18-1-1989. It is these two orders which are being assailed by the petitioner.

(3.) COMING now to the second ground of challenge, the learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that section 24-B applies only in respect of those landlords who had initially let out the premises to the tenant. He laid emphasis on the use of the expression let out by him occurring in that section to support his argument. The argument, in my opinion, is totally misconceived. This expression in fact refers to the landlord who has been ousted from public building in his occupation on account of the fact that he owns a building in the same city either in his name or in the name of any of his family members. The above expression, therefore, cannot be limited only in respect of those landlords who had first let in the tenant. It has to be read in a broader sense j and will include even those landlords who may have come to acquire the property subsequently, but at the relevant time a relationship of landlord and tenant must be in existence between the parties.