SHARMA ELECTRIC ENGINEERING WORKS Vs. RADHA DEBI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Twelve ejectment suits, instituted by the plaintiff Sm. Radha Debi against her tenants in occupation of different portions of her premises No. 31, Mallick Street, Calcutta, were decreed by the trial Court (Third Bench, Court of Small Causes, Calcutta) on 8-3-1954. Eight of the tenants went up on appeal to the Special Bench. The appeals failed on 5-8-1954, and four tenants have now come up in second appeal to this Court.

(2.) The suits were brought long after the coming into operation of the Rent Control Act of 1950 and they are admittedly governed by that Act The ground of ejectment, so far as rent control law is concerned, in the four cases which have now come up to this Court, was the plaintiff's reasonable requirement of the suit premises for building and re-building.

(3.) Premises No. 31, Mallick Street, Calcutta, comprises a fairly big four-storeyed building on about 3 to 3 1/2 cottahs of land. It is about 70 or 80 years old. The immediate requirement, as it appears from the evidence of the plaintiff's engineer witness (P. W. 1), and this is not so much denied by the defendant's engineer (D. W. 13), is the replacement of about the whole of the interior, specially round the courtyard, that is, its demolition and steel framing. The other wall of the building on the road side requires only some minor repairs. The plaintiff has got a plan sanctioned by the Calcutta Corporation which is Ex. 1 (a). The plaintiff has also proved sufficiently to the Satisfaction of the Court that she has the means to build and intends to build honestly and bona fide. The Courts below have also found that the reconstruction or re-building will be for public benefit and they have also accepted more or less in express terms the plaintiff's case of extended public accommodation.