KALI DASSI Vs. KANAI LAL DE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a Rule calling upon the opposite party as well as upon the Controller of Rents, Calcutta, to show cause why the order dismissing an application under Section 15 of the Calcutta Rent Act (for fixing the standard rent), on the ground that the petitioner had no locus standi to make the application, should not be set aside.

(2.) The order of the Rent Controller was as follows:--"From the evidence on the record it appears evident that the applicant is a woman of the town and that the sub tenants to whom she has sub let the different rooms comprised in the premises are also women of the town. The appellant has, therefore, no locus standi to make this application and I dismiss it."

(3.) It is unnecessary to consider the contention that the rent of a house let out to a prostitute cannot be standardised under the Rent Act, because the contract of tenancy is void, as in the present case the opposite parties, who are the landlords, did not set up the question of invalidity of the tenancy. They admitted the petitioner to be their tenant in their written statement in the case. They stated that they had sued her in the Calcutta Small Cause Court for ejectment : and that she was allowed to reside in the house on payment of rent at the rate of Rs. 85 per month under the decree of that Court, provided she paid the rent regularly. They went further and invited the Rent Controller to fix the standard rent of the premises at Rs. 150 per month.