KULWANT SINGH Vs. NAND KISHORE BEHL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition is directed against the order of the Rent Controller dated 7.1.1988, whereby the application of the tenant for setting aside the ex parte ejectment order was dismissed.

(2.) THE landlord sought the ejectment of his tenant on the sole ground of non-payment of arrears of rent for five months. He obtained the ex parte ejectment order on 30.5.1987. The application for setting aside the same was filed on 1.9.1987 in which it was stated that the tenant Kulwant Singh was not personally served in the main case nor he ever refused to accept the summons and that no process-server or postman ever approached him for the service of process. It was also pleaded that there was no occasion for ordering the substituted service and that no substituted service was effected. Notice of this application was given to the landlord but he never chose to contest the same. In spite of this, the learned Rent Controller, wrongly relying on paragraph No. 4 of the application found that the tenant himself was aware of the ejectment application and, therefore, there was no ground for setting aside the ex parte ejectment order. Dissatisfied with the same, the tenant has filed this petition in this Court.

(3.) AFTER hearing the learned counsel for the petitioner, I find force in the contention raised by the counsel. The approach of the learned Rent Controller in this behalf was wholly wrong, erroneous and misconceived. A copy of the application for setting aside the ex parte order has been filed in this Court. The application, if read as a whole, makes it quite clear that the case of the tenant was that he was never personally served in the aforesaid case nor he ever refused to accept the summons from the Court. The learned Rent Controller has read para No. 4 of the said application out of context. As observed earlier, the application is to be read as a whole. In this situation, the petition succeeds and is allowed. The impugned order is set aside and the application for setting aside the ex parte ejectment order is allowed with no order as to costs.