OM PARKASH Vs. SUBHASH CHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This revision petition under Section 24(5) of the H.P. Urban Rent Control Act, 1987 (hereafter referred to as 'the Act') has been preferred by the landlord/Petitioner (hereafter referred to as 'the landlord') against the judgment dated 20.12.2000 passed by the learned Appellate Authority, Una whereby the order dated 23.1.1995 whereby the eviction petition filed by the landlord for eviction of the Respondent/tenant (hereafter referred to as 'the tenant') from a shop on Una-Amb Road, Municipal Ward No. 1, Una (hereafter referred to as the tenanted premises) was allowed by the learned Rent Controller, Una on the ground of the tenant having ceased to occupy the said premises and for being in arrears of rent has been set aside.

(2.) The facts relevant for the purpose of disposal of the present petition are that the landlord filed a petition under Section 14 of the Act for eviction of the tenant from the tenanted premises on the grounds that the tenant was in arrears of rent from 1.9.1988 to 31.8.1991, that the tenant has ceased to occupy the tenanted premises for a continuous period of more than 12 months before the institution of the petition, that the tenant had changed the nature of the business and the tenanted premises were bona fide required by the landlord for personal use.

(3.) The petition was resisted by the tenant, who, in his reply, raised the preliminary objection that the petition was not maintainable in view of the contradictory pleas taken therein. On merits, all the grounds of eviction, as taken in the petition, were denied and it was claimed that the eviction petition had been filed to harass the tenant, who had demanded a sum of Rs. 500 from the landlord on account of repair of the roof of the tenanted premises in August, 1991.