OM PRAKASH SAINI Vs. DALJIT SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The only question that arises for determination in the present petition is whether the Rent Controller is a court within the meaning of Section 32 of the Air Force Act, 1950, (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act').

(2.) Briefly the facts are that the petitioner, who is owner of House No. 3376, Sector 35-D, Chandigarh, filed an application for ejectment of the respondent from that house before Mr. N. K. Bansal, Rent Controller, Chandigarh. He later obtained a certificate from the proper Air Force authority in terms of Section 32 of the Act and made an application before the Rent Controller for giving priority in the disposal of his case. He therein stated 'that he had been granted leave for the purpose of prosecuting the case with effect from February 25, 1980, to April 19, 1980, and consequently prayed that the hearing of the case be expedited and concluded within the period of his leave as contemplated by the aforesaid section. The application was contested by the respondent who inter alia pleaded that the Rent Controller under the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act (hereinafter referred to as the 'Rent' Act') was a persona designata and not a Court and therefore the provisions of Section 32 of the Act were not applicable to the proceedings before him. The learned Rent Contro1ler came to the conclusion that the Rent Controller was not a Court for the purpose of Section 32 of the Act. He, consequently, dismissed the application. The petitioner has come up in revision against that order to this Court.

(3.) Section 32 of the Act relates to priority in respect of Air Force personnel's litigation. It reads as follows:-