RAKESH KUMAR Vs. ISHRO DEVI AND ANOTHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) An ejectment petition under Section 13 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') had been preferred against the petitioner/tenant on the ground of non-payment of rent interalia @ Rs. 1968.75/- w.e.f. 01.04.2012 till the date of filing of the petition. The said petition was resisted by the petitioner/tenant claiming the rate of rent as Rs. 1400/- per month. The Rent Controller vide order dated 10.09.2013 assessed the provisional rent @ Rs. 1400/- per month w.e.f. 01.04.2012 till 01.09.2013. The case was fixed for 30.09.2013 for tendering the rent by the petitioner/tenant. Tender was not made as per order of 10.09.2013; eviction was ordered on 30.09.2013. Even the Appellate Authority found no merit in the claim of the petitioner-tenant that his counsel had noted down the wrong date for tender of provisional rent i.e. 30.10.2013 instead of 30.09.2013 and that sequelly the tender of rent could not be made on the date fixed i.e. 30.09.2013. Consequently, the Appellate Authority affirmed the order of the Rent Controller dismissed the appeal on 07.04.2014.

(2.) In the revision petition, plea raised by the petitioner-tenant is that since his counsel had noted down the wrong date as 30.10.2013 instead of 30.09.2013 for tendering the rent, the rent could not be tendered on 30.09.2013 in terms of order of the Rent Controller dated 10.09.2013. His claim then is that his counsel informed him on 17.10.2013 that his ejectment has been ordered on the grounds of non-payment of rent and thus alongwith demand draft of arrears of rent of Rs. 24,244/- on 17.10.2013, he had filed the appeal, which was wrongly rejected. It is claimed that both the Courts below wrongly ordered his eviction for no fault of the petitioner-tenant.

(3.) Counsel for the respondents-landlords, on the other hand, has urged that there was neither any scope of confusion nor of misunderstanding about the order of the Rent Controller and plea of the petitioner-tenant regarding wrong communication of date of tender of arrears of rent by his counsel to him is also a make belief story.