HARI RAM Vs. HARJINDER SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petition is at the instance of the tenant, who challenges the order of ejectment passed on an application filed under Section 13B of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act. The landlord claimed the property as belonging to his father absolutely and claimed that after the death of his father on 27.12.1991, it was inherited by the mother and two sons. The mother had also expired four to five years back and that he had inherited the property along with his brother. The petitioner's contention was that he required this for his personal use and he being a person of Indian origin with his residence at Ludhiana but had been settled outside India, was entitled to obtain the status as a Non-Resident Indian and secure the ejectment in the manner provided under the said provision.

(2.) The contest was entered by the tenant contending that the landlord had been issued with the passport by the United States of America and that he had been shown as a US national. His contention, therefore, was that he being a US citizen under the provisions of the Citizenship Act, cannot become an Indian citizen unless he gives up his citizenry in USA and registers himself as a citizen of India. The further contention is that the petitioner has not given any details of the actual year of death of the mother and since the Act requires the ownership of the property for a period not less than 5 years, without a disclosure of fact that the death of mother had taken place more than 5 years prior to the institution of the petition, the landlord was not entitled to maintain the petition. Learned counsel would further argue that the mutations brought about in the official records of the Corporation do not record the petitioner as the owner and that it stands in the name of the father himself.

(3.) The issue of bona fides itself was not argued and the learned counsel rest contended with the legal issues of whether the landlord obtained a status of Non-Resident Indian to invoke the provisions under Section 13b. The definition of "Non-Resident Indian" is contained under Section 2(dd) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, which is reproduced as under:-