MANOHAR LAL Vs. VASDEV

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS revision petition is directed against the judgment dated 28.5.1979 passed by the learned Appellate Authority, Hoshiarpur, under Section 15(3) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (for short 'the Act'), whereby an appeal filed by the tenant-respondent No. 1 against an order dated 11.4.1977 directing his ejectment from the shop in dispute by the learned Rent Controller has been allowed and the application for ejectment filed under Section 13 of the Act by the landlord petitioner has been dismissed.

(2.) THE petitioners had sought ejectment of respondent No. 1 on the ground that he had neither paid nor tender rent for the period from 22.9.1974 to 22.4.1976 and that the shop in dispute had become unsafe and unfit for human habitation. Respondent No. 1 tendered the rent along with interest and costs on the first date of hearing which was no doubt accepted by the petitioner but they contended that the tender was invalid. However, at the time of final decision of the ejectment application, their counsel fairly conceded before the learned Rent Controller that the tender was valid.

(3.) I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have also gone through the evidence on the record. The learned Appellate Authority has discussed the reports and the statements made by A.W. 1 Munsha Singh, retired S.D.O. who appeared as an expert witness on behalf of the petitioners, and R.W. 3 Devi Chand S.D.O. another expert who appeared on behalf of respondent No. 1. It found that the reports of the two experts were quite divergent and it was not possible to appreciate the evidence on the record without inspection of the shop in dispute. The learned Appellate Authority, therefore, visited the shop in the presence of the counsel for both the parties on 24.5.1979 at 5 PM and made its report which is to the following effect :-