DEV RAJ Vs. TILAK RAJ DHARAM PAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) MESSRS Tilak Ram Dharam Paul landlord made an application against their tenant Dev Raj under section 13 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949, hereinafter called the Act, for the latter's eviction from the Chaubara in dispute, situated on the first floor of property No. B. VII/476 (B. VII/646) Kesar Ganj Mandi, Ludhiana. The ground for eviction, with which we are now concerned, is that the premises was required by the landlords for their own personal needs.

(2.) THE Rent Controller came to the conclusion that the ground urged by the landlord for eviction was mala fide and had been taken with some ulterior motive. He consequently, dismissed their eviction application.

(3.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner, in the first instance, submitted that in order to succeed on the ground of personal need, the landlord had to establish (a) that they required the Chaubara for their occupation; (b) that they were not occupying any residential building in the urban area concerned; and (c) that they had not vacated with a building without sufficient cause after the commencement of the Act in the said urban area. These were the requirements of section 13(3)(a)(i) of the Act, under which the application had been made. The said section reads: