RAJENDRA SALES CORP. Vs. LNDERMULL HIMTAJI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against the judgment of the High Court of Madras in the second appeal filed by the appellant before us. The appellant is the sublessee of premises belonging to the Pasumarthy Rukmani Ammal Charity, which has been held to be a public charitable trust and which is not disputed in this appeal. The respondent is the lessee of the said premises. The suit was filed by the respondent against the appellant for eviction from the said premises upon the ground that the sub -lease of the appellant had been terminated by the respondent. The suit was filed upon the basis that the said premises were exempt from the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1960 read with GO No. 2000 dated August 16, 1976 issued by the Governor of Tamil Nadu under the provisions of section 29 of the said Act. The suit was dismissed by the trial Court but was decreed in the first appeal. The second appeal before the High Court was dismissed.

(2.) THE only contention raised before us is that the appellant, as sublessee of the said premises, is entitled to the protection of the said Act and that the said GO has no application.

(3.) BY virtue of section 29 the Government is entitled to exempt any building or class of buildings from the provisions of the said Act and what has been exempted by the said GO are all buildings owned by public religious and charitable trusts of Hindus, Christians and Muslims. The exemption, therefore, attaches to the buildings. The said premises, being owned by a trust of the kind stipulated, are exempt from the provisions of the said Act and a sublessee thereof cannot claim the protection of the provisions of the said Act.