HARNAM SINGH Vs. SATISA KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition filed by the petitioner-tenant under sub-section (5) of section 15 of the East Punjab Urban Rent 14 Restriction Act (for short the Act) against the order of the Appellate Authority, Ludhiana, dated January 14, 1975, whereby his eviction from the premises in question has been ordered on the ground that he ceased to occupy the building for a continuous period of 4 months without reasonable cause prior to filing of the application by the landlord-respondent on May , 1972.

(2.) Mr. H. L. Sarin, learned counsel for the petitioner has raised two contentions before me to assail the impugned order (i) since the respondent-landlord did not specify the span of four months for which the premises in question remained unoccupied, the application deserves to be dismissed for that short reasons (ii) the evidence has not been appreciated by the Appellate Authority keeping in view the pleadings of the parties and thus the conclusion recorded by it stands vitiated.

(3.) In support of his first contention, the learned counsel primarily relies on a decision or this Court in Karam Chand Joshi v. Shri Kartar Singh and ors., 1977 1 RCR(Rent) 327. The ground of eviction under section 13(2)(5) of the Act in that case too was pleaded in almost the same language as has been done in the present case. But it was not only for the reason of not specifying the period of non-occupation that the petition under section 13 of the Act was allowed by the learned Judge but it was on the basis of examining the legality and propriety of the conclusion recorded by the Appellate, Authority on appreciation of evidence that he came to the conclusion that the Appellate Authority could not possibly record the conclusion that the tenant did not occupy the premises for more than four months. The learned Judge did highlight the desirability of specifying the period of non-occupation in the petition for eviction yet it was after referring to the entire evidence led by the land-lord in that case in support of his plea that the learned Judge concluded the matter thus :-