RAJ KUMAR Vs. MANGU RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This revision petition is directed against the judgment dated 7.5.1979 of the learned Appellate Authority, Hissar, under Section 15(4) of the Haryana Urban (Control of Rent Eviction) Act, 1979 (for short 'the Act'), whereby the judgment dated 6.2.1979 passed by the learned Rent Controller, Hissar, fixing the fair rent of the premises in dispute has been set aside and the application of the landlord petitioner has been dismissed.

(2.) The petitioner filed an application under Section 4 of the Act for fixation of fair rent of the shop in dispute situated in the Halwaian Bazar, Hissar, in which admittedly Mangu Ram respondent is a tenant. It is not in dispute that way back in the year 1963 the fair rent of the shop in dispute was fixed by the Rent controller, Hissar, under Section 4 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (for short 'the Punjab Act') which related back to the date of the application which was instituted in the year 1961. In the instant application, the petitioner alleged that the basic rent of the shop is the prevailing market rent for such like shops in the year 1962 which was Rs. 500/- per month. He, therefore, claimed that keeping in view the provisions of sub-section (2) of Section 4 of the Act the fair rent of the shop should be fixed at an amount not less than Rs. 850/- per month. This application was opposed by the respondent who filed his reply. He raised the plea that the fair rent of shop having been already fixed at Rs. 55/- per month, there could be no scope for its increase by filing a fresh application under Section 4 of the Act. The allegation that the basic rent prevailing for such like shops in the locality in the year was Rs. 500/- per month was vehemently denied.

(3.) The petitioner as well as the respondent produced evidence in support of their case. The learned Rent Controller, however, discarded all this evidence and held that since in the year 1962 the fair rent of the shop had already been fixed under Section 4 of the Punjab Act at Rs. 55/- per month, the same is to be taken as the basic rent of the shop in the year 1962. He then allowed an increase on the basic rent so determined at the rate of 25 per centum of the rise in the general level of prices in accordance with the average of All India Whole Sale Price Index number in the year 1975, being the year preceding the date of filing the application, i.e. 3.8.1976, and fixed the fair rent vide his judgment dated 6.2.1979 at Rs. 83.85 per month. The petitioner as also the respondent felt aggrieved against the fair rent so fixed by the learned Rent Controller and filed appeals against the same before the learned Appellate Authority, which came to the conclusion that the fair rent of the shop having already been fixed at Rs. 55/- per month under Section 4 of the Punjab Act, there was no scope for re-fixation of the fair rent under the Act. It also discarded the evidence brought on the record by the petitioner regarding the basic rent of similar buildings in the locality in the year 1962. As a result, it dismissed the appeal of the petitioner and allowed the appeal of the respondent and held that the fair rent of the premises would be Rs. 55/- per month. The petitioner, thus, being aggrieved against the aforesaid order of the learned Appellate Authority has filed the present revision petition.