RUNCHORDAS (PRIVATE) LTD. Vs. VASANJI RAVJI SHAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) As between the landlord and the tenant there was some sort of agreement by which the landlord had agreed to supply to the tenant electricity through a sub -meter at the rate of six annas per unit. The tenant thought that the rate was too much and aspired to have direct supply from the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Ltd. Since the landlord would not consent thereto, the tenant applied before the Rent Controller under Sec. 36 of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act. The Rent Controller dismissed the application on the ground that the tenant was getting supply of electricity from the landlord under the agreement and, therefore, there was no refusal or withholding of supply of electricity to the tenant. As against the order of the Rent Controller the tenant appealed before the Appellate authority. The Appellate authority allowed the appeal in the view that even if the tenant was getting supply of electricity from the landlord, that would not prevent him from getting direct supply from the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation.

(2.) Aggrieved by the order of the Appellate authority the landlord moved this Court and obtained this Rule.

(3.) Mr. Noni Coomar Chakravarty, learned Counsel for the landlord Petitioner, submitted that so long as the landlord went on supplying electric energy to the tenant, no occasion for an application under Sec. 36 of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act would arise. In my opinion, in this submission Mr. Chakravarty is not correct. Sec. 12(2) of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910, used to envisage consent by the owner before the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Ltd. could lay down or place any electric supply line in a building. Now, the language of Sec. 36(1) of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act is: