SATYANARAYAN H.PODDAR Vs. SATYABHAMA JWALAPRASAD RUNGTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ON Walkeshwar Road near Rajbhavan, there is a property, of A-1 Cooperative Housing Society Limited, and, in the said building on 2nd floor in flat no.25 the Petitioner resides. Admittedly, initially somewhere in the year 1958 the Petitioner came to occupy the said flat by way of leave and licence on monthly compensation of Rs.400/-. It appears that in the year 1968 the Petitioner was paying compensation @Rs.425/- p.m.. Ultimately the compensation was reduced to Rs.400/- p.m.. According to Petitioner in view of the amend-ment in the Bombay Rent Hotel and Lodging Houses Rates (Control) Act, 1947 (for short, 'Bombay Rent Control Act'), the Petitioner became tenant and since the rent of Rs.400/- was excessive he made an application of fixation of standard rent under Section-11 of the Bombay Rent Control Act. The Petitioner prayed in the said application for fixation of standard rent and that the agreed rent by reduced to Rs.100/- p.m. The claim of the Petitioner was contested by the Respondent-landlord and both the parties led oral as well as documentary evidence. The court of Small Causes after recording the evidence and hearing the parties, by the impugned order dated 29-9-92 partly allowed the application and fixed the rent @ Rs.285.20 p.m. inclusive of outgoing charges upto 1-9-1973. The order passed by the Small Causes Court on 29-9-92 was carried in revision by the landlord before the court of the Small Causes and the said court after hearing learned counsel for the parties by the impugned order dated 18-7-96 allowed the revision and set-aside the order passed by the trial judge and fixed the standard rent @ Rs.400/- exclusive of outgoing charges and taxes recoverable under law.

(2.) IT would be seen that while fixing the standard rent the trial court considered that in the year 1972, outgoing charges were Rs.76.50 and reasonable return on investment of Rs.31,000/- at the rate of 8% comes to Rs.266.66 per month and, therefore, the standard rent of the applicant premises deserves to be fixed @ Rs.285.20 per month. Apparently the trial court did not consider the entire material on record in the right perspective, and, Revisional court, therefore, had to consider the entire evidence. The Revisional court considered the report of architect and held that the suit flat was on the second floor of the society situated on Walkeshwar Road near Rajbhavan. The architect found that educatio-nal, cultural, and social institutions were also in the same locality, and, also B.E.S.T. buses, taxies and other conveyance were easily available. The are of the flat is of 450 sq.ft. The architect took into consideration all these factors and upon consideration of nature of premises, location and construction of the premises, opined that valuation of the premises on 1st July, 1968 was Rs. 67,575/-, on 1st February, 1973 was to Rs. 1,05,887/-, and, on 1st April, 1981 was Rs.