AMAR NATH Vs. HANS RAJ

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Amar Nath, the petitioner in this writ petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, was a tenant of Hans Rai respondent in certain agricultural land. He fell in arrears of rent and the landlord seeking his ejection made an application on the 22nd June, 1959, to the Assistant Collector Second Grade, having jurisdiction in the matter, under clause (ii) of Section 14-A of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 (Act No. 10 of 1953), hereinafter to be referred to as the Act. It was stated that the tenant was in arrears for the harvests from Kharif 1957 to Rabi 1959 inclusive and an amount of Rs. 1000/- was stated as being the arrears. The Assistant Collector Second Grade, thereupon, issued statutory notice in the prescribed form. The tenant appeared before the Assistant Collector and objected, firstly, that he was not the tenant of Hans Raj only but of other landlords jointly with Hans Raj, that he had already paid rent for Kharff 1957 and Rabi 1958; that the crop for Kharif 1958 had been damaged on account of heavy rains, and that he offered to pay rent for Kharif 1958 and Rabi 1959 but the landlord did not accept it. The Assistant Collector rejected the pleas advanced by the tenant and by his order dated the 1st May, 1961, directed the tenant to pay Rs. 1,000/- to the landlord within a month otherwise he would be liable to be ejected. Hans Raj went up in appeal against this order to the Collector (Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Patti), who held in his order dated the 23rd August, 1961 that under the statute Assistant Collector Second Grade had no jurisdiction to extend the period specified in the statutory notice. He, therefore, allowed the appeal and setting aside the order of the Assistant Collector Second Grade, Patti, remanded the case to him for ordering the ejectment of the tenant. The Collector's order was maintained in second appeal by the Commissioner, Jullundur Division, and revision at the instance of the tenant was rejected on the 30th October, 1962 by the Financial Commissioner, Punjab. It was then that the tenant came up to this Court in this writ petition.

(2.) Clause (ii) of Section 14-A of the Act is as follows :

(3.) Sub-rule (2) of rule 22 of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Rules, 1956, provides that a landlord desiring to recover arrears of rent from a tenant under clause (ii) of Section 14-A of the Act, shall apply to the Assistant Collector Second Grade, having jurisdiction in Form M, and the Assistant Collector shall thereupon issue a notice to the tenant in Form N. The relevant part of this notice to be addressed to the tenant by the Assistant Collector Second Grade, is as follows :-