VAIDHYA BAL KRISHAN Vs. DISTRICT MAGISTRATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS litigation between the landlord and the tenant has had a chequered career a period of about 15 years. The controversy involved is with regard to enjoyment of amenity by the tenant.

(2.) THE facts are these : Respondent No. 3 Ugam Chand is tenant in the ground floor of the house of the petitioner known as 'Chaturbhuj Bhawan'. The house opens on the main road on the eastern side. There is an open 'chowk' in the south-west side of the house having opening on the southern side. The petitioner locked this gate somewhere in 1983. Respondent No. 3 Ugam Chand therefore made an application before the City Magistrate under Section 12 of the Rajasthan Premises (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1950 (for short the Act of 1950) for restoration of the amenity. In this application he averred that he was enjoying the amenity of using the southern gate for the last about 15 years for fetching water from the public tap, for bringing cycle etc. but the petitioner has locked the gate whereby his amenities have been cut. The application was opposed by the petitioner-landlord on the grounds that the use of the passage did not come in the definition of amenity : the passage or the gate was not let out to the tenant, and this passage was only for the use of the petitioner-landlord for taking his vehicles in the garage.

(3.) ON 12.6.1987 the learned City Magistrate ordered the parties to produce evidence. This order was again challenged by the petitioner-landlord before the District Magistrate by way of appeal.