9911796707
TMI Blog1969 (4) TMI 101X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... enhanced to Rs. 188/- per month inclusive of all cantonment taxes. Respondent No. 1, in December, 1960, served a notice on the appellant to quit and, on failing to get vacant possession, filed a suit in the Court of the Munsif. In the plaint, respondent No. 1 claimed that, regulation of house accommodation including control of rents being a subject in entry No. 3 of List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, the State Legislature could not competently enact a law on the same subject for cantonment are-as, so that the appellant was pot entitled to protection under the Act which had been extended to that area by the State Government. It was urged that the extension of that State Act to the cantonment area was ultra vires and void. The Munsif, thereupon, made a reference under s. 113 of the Code of Civil Procedure to the High Court of Calcutta for decision of this constitutional question raised in the suit before him. The High Court decided the reference by making a declaration that the notification, whereby the State Government had extended the provisions of the Act to the Barrackpore cantonment area, was ultra vires and void. This is the decision of the High Court that has ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d for military purposes. This -entry 3, according to the appellant, should not be read as giving Parliament the power to legislate, on the relationship of landlord and tenant in respect of houses situated in cantonment areas if such houses are let out privately by a private owner to his tenant and have nothing at all to do with the requirements of the military. We are unable to accept this submission. The language of the entry itself does not justify any such interpretation. In the entry, when power is granted to Parliament to make laws for the regulation of house accommodation in cantonment areas, there are no qualifying words to indicate that the house accommodation, which is to be subject to such legislation, must be accommodation required for military purposes, or must be accommodation that has already been acquired, requisitioned or allotted to the military. In fact, if a legislation in respect of any cantonment was to be undertaken by Parliament for the first time under this entry, there would be, at the time of that legislation, no house in the cantonment already acquired, requisitioned or allotted for military purposes; and, if the interpretation sought to be put on behalf ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate for eviction of tenants who may have occupied the houses under private arrangement with the owners. It should be confined to legislation for the purpose of obtaining possession and allotment of such accommodation to military authorities or military officers. We cannot accept that the, word "regulation" can be so narrowly interpreted as to be confined to allotment only and not to other incidents, such as termination of existing tenancies and eviction of persons in possession of the house accommodation. The dictionary meaning of the word "regulation" in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary is "the act of regulating" and the word "regulate... is Given the meaning "to control, govern or direct by rule or regulation". This entry, thus, gives the power to Parliament to pass legislation for the purpose of directing or controlling all house accommodation in cantonment areas. Clearly, this power to direct or control will include within it all aspects as to who is to make the constructions under what conditions the constructions can be altered, who is to occupy the accommodation and for how long, on what terms it is to be occupied, when and under what circumstances the occupant is to cease to o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... requirements of military authorities and personnel for accommodation in such areas. Such a purpose' could only be served by ensuring that Parliament could legislate in respect of house accommodation in cantonment areas in all its aspects, including regulation of grant of leases, ejectment of lessees, and ensuring that the accommodation is available on proper terms as to rents. On an interpretation of the contents of the entry itself, therefore, we are led to the conclusion that Parliament was given the exclusive power to legislate in respect of house accommodation in cantonment areas for regulating the accommodation in all its aspects. In this connection, we may refer to three decisions which explain the object of legislation on the subject of rent control. In Prout v. Hunter [1924] 2 K.B. 736, Scrutton, L.J., dealing with the legislation during the war in England, held:- "Great public feeling was aroused by the exorbitant demands for rent that were made and the ejectments for nonpayment of it, with the result that Parliament passed the Rent Restriction Acts with the two-fold object, (1) of preventing the rent from being raised above the prewar standard, and (2) of preventing ten ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ression "regulation of house accommodation". Of course, it has to be remembered that this power reserved for Parliament is to be exercised in respect of house accommodation situated in cantonment areas only and not other areas the legislative power in respect of which is governed by entries either in List II or in List III. This view that we are taking is also borne out by the historical background provided by the legislation relating to cantonments and house accommodation in cantonments in India. Carnduff in his book on "Military and Cantonment Law in India" has indicated how the need for legislating with the object of overcoming difficulties experienced by military officers in obtaining suitable accommodation in cantonments came under consideration, and has stated : "In the early days of the British dominion in India, the camps, stations, and posts of the field army gradually developed into cantonments, where troops were regularly garrisoned. The areas so occupied were at first set apart exclusively for the military and intended for occupation by them only; but, by degrees, non-military persons were admitted land was taken possession of by them, and houses were built under condit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... when the Constitution came in-to force. This Act also contained similar provisions which permitted military authorities to direct an owner to lease out a house to the Central Government, to require the existing occupier to vacate the house and to refrain from letting out any house for purposes of a hospital, school, school hostel, bank, hotel, or shop, or by a railway administration. a company or firm engaged in trade or business or a club, without the previous sanction of the Officer Commanding the District given with the concurrence of the Commissioner or, in a Province where there are no Commissioners, of the Collector. This Act also, thus, interfered with and regulated letting out of house accommodation by owners for civilian purposes even though, at the time of letting, the house was not required for any military purpose. It was in the background of this legislative history that provision was made in the Government of India Act in entry 2 of List I of the Seventh Schedule reserving for the Federal Legislature the power to legislate so as to regulate house accommodation in cantonment areas. and the same power with further clarification was reserved for Parliament in entry 3 of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rents and repairs of certain premises, of rates of hotels and lodging houses, and (A evictions. Therefore, the pith and substance of Act LVII of 1947 is to regulate the relation between landlord and tenant by controlling rents which the tenant has got to pay to the landlord and by controlling the right of the landlord to evict his tenant. Can it be said that when the Provincial Legislature was dealing with these relations between landlord and tenant, it was regulating house accommodation in cantonment areas ? In our opinion, the regulation contemplated by Entry 2 in List I is regulation by the State or by the Government. Requisitioning of property, acquiring of property, allocation of property, all that would be regulation of house accommodation, but when the Legislature merely deals with relations of landlord and tenant, it is not in any way legislating with regard to house accommodation. The house accommodation remains the same, but the tenant is protected quae his landlord." We have felt considerable doubt whether the power of legislating on relationship between landlord and tenant in respect of house accommodation or buildings would -appropriately fall in Entry 21 of List II ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rs in List 1, so that the effect of Entry 3 of List I is that, on the subject of relationship between landlord and tenant insofar as it arises in respect of house accommodation situated in cantonment areas, Parliament alone can legislate and not the State Legislatures. The submission made that this interpretation will lead to a conflict between the powers conferred on the various Legislatures in Lists I, II and III has also no force, because the reservation of power for Parliament for the limited purpose of legislating in 'respect of cantonment area only amounts to exclusion of this part of the legislative power from the general powers conferred on State Legislatures in the other two Lists. This kind of exclusion is not confined only to legislation in respect of house accommodation in cantonment areas. The same Entry gives Parliament jurisdiction to make provision by legislation for local self-government in cantonment areas which is clearly a curtailment of the general power of the State Legislatures to make provision for local self government in all areas of the State under Entry 5 of List R. That Entry 5 does not specifically exclude cantonment areas and, but for Entry 3 of List ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tel v. Vishwanath Chada Supra correctly defined the scope of Entry 3 Sup. CI 69-16. 2 in List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Government of India Act, and considered the narrow question whether the relationship of landlord and tenant specifically mentioned in Entry 21 in List It of that Act covered the requirement of permission to serve a notice for eviction in regulating the relation of landlord and tenant and fell within the scope of Entry 21 in List II or in Entry 2 in List I of that Act. The Court held that it-substantially fell in Entry 21 in List II and not in Entry 2 in List I. That Court did not consider it necessary to express -any opinion on the question whether the expression "regulating of house accommodation" included something besides what Chagla, C.J., had said was its ambit in the case of A. C. Patel v. Vishwanath Chada I.L. R. 1954 Bom. 434. , but expressed the opinion that the expression could not be stretched to include the aspect of the -relation of landlord and tenant involved in that particular case. It is clear that, in, that case also, a narrow interpretation of the expression "regulation of house accommodation" was accepted, because it appears that there w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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