BUTA RAM Vs. BALWANT SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The matter here arises from the landlord's petition under the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') for the ejectment of his tenant from the shop let out to him. Ejectment was sought on various grounds, but the two that now survive for consideration being those under S.13(2)(iii) and (v) of the Act, namely; that the tenant had, without the consent of the landlord demolished the front verandah and stair-case of the shop and had thereby materially impaired its value and further that the tenant had ceased to occupy the shop having left possession thereof for a continuous period of more than four months without reasonable cause.

(2.) The tenant controverted both the pleas on the basis of which his ejectment was sought. It was denied by him that the verandah and the stair-case had been demolished. According to him, there was in fact no stair-case in the shop. As regards the other plea, it was his assertion that he and his son, who was a member of the joint family, had been in continuous possession of the shop and had not thus ceased to occupy it.

(3.) The rent controller found in favour of the landlord holding that the tenant had demolished the verandah of the shop and had thereby materially imparied the value and utility of the shop and further relying upon the judgment of this Court in Jai Chand Jain v. Sohan Lal, 1975 Ren CJ 157, that the tenant had also ceased to occupy the shop for more than four months prior to the filing of the ejectment application. The ejectment of the tenant was consequently ordered on both these grounds.