RAMNARAIN LAL Vs. RADHARAMAN DAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiffs, Ramnarain Lal and others, instituted a suit giving rise to the present appeal for a declaration that the order of the House Controller, Patna, dated 20th June 1949 and that of the Additional Commissioner, Patna Division, passed on appeal, dated 30th March 1950, by which the plaintiffs were directed to vacate the house in mohalla Sabzibagh in Patna town bearing holding No. 58, circle No. 16, municipal survey plot No. 48 are illegal and without jurisdiction.

(2.) The case made out by the plaintiffs was that they were the tenants of the defendants-respondents in respect of the land where the house in question was situate, but" they had built the house and they were not inducted as tenants into the house in question, and in that view, the Eihar Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act (Act 3 of 1947) did not apply to the present case, and, therefore, the order passed by the House Controller under this Act was not binding on them. There were other points of law raised by the plaintiffs for the purpose of showing that the order of the House Controller was otherwise illegal and beyond jurisdiction inasmuch as the order passed by the House Controller was not the order which was sought to be executed but the order which was passed on appeal by the Additional Commissioner which was void.

(3.) The defence case, however, was that the plaintiffs were inducted into the house duly as tenants, and their plea that they came to occupy the vacant site as tenants and they built the house for themselves was false and fraudulent. Further, that the order passed by the House Controller and affirmed on appeal was final and the Civil Court had no jurisdiction to go behind the order of the House Controller.