TMI Blog2005 (5) TMI 661X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y belonged to one Ramji Dass. The two appellants before us, namely, Kailash Chand and Nokha Ram are real brothers. They purchased the property from Ramji Dass. The exact date of purchase is not known but it was sometime in the year 1980. Ramji Dass was carrying on his own business on the ground floor while the first floor was in occupation of the tenant, Dharam Dass, the respondent herein. The appellants got vacant possession of the ground floor from their vendors while the tenant continued to be in occupation of the first floor which he was holding on tenancy at a monthly rent of ₹ 15/-. Having purchased the premises, the landlords initiated proceedings for the eviction of the tenant from the first floor premises by an application filed on 1.8.1980 before the Rent Controller under the Himachal Pradesh Urban Rent Control Act, 1971 the law as it was applicable then. The ground for eviction was that the family of the appellants was living in miserable conditions. On purchasing the building No. 108, appellant No. 2 commenced his commercial activity by opening a shop on the ground floor of the building. He started using the godown for the residence of himself along with his w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of ₹ 225/- per month beside taxes. The upper floor accommodation continued to be in occupation of the family of appellant no.2. Looking at the number of members in the family of appellant no.2 and the small size of accommodation on the first floor which was already occupied by the family of appellant No.2, the family of appellant no.1 could not have been accommodated therein. Vide Order dated 20.1.1993, the Rent Controller directed tenant-respondent to be evicted. The tenant's appeal was dismissed by the Appellate Authority. In Civil Revision preferred by the tenant, the High Court has vide its Order dated November 27, 2001 allowed the Civil Revision and directed the eviction petition to be dismissed. The High Court has placed reliance on one of the provisos appended to sub-Section (3) of Section 14 of the Act (called the 'third proviso' in this judgment) as noticed hereinafter and the decision of this Court in Molar Mal (dead) through L.Rs. v. M/s. Kay Iron Works (Pvt.) Ltd., (2000) 4 SCC 285. In the opinion of the High Court the landlords had admittedly obtained the possession of another building (as defined in Section 2 clause (b) of the Act) on the same g ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 14(3) of the Act would not apply. These are the reasons which persuaded the learned two Judges to place the matter for consideration by a Bench of three Judges. In our opinion, the third proviso has no application to the facts of the present case and this we say for two reasons. First, the third proviso would apply when an order for eviction has been passed under clause (a) or (b) and possession is obtained by the landlord pursuant to that order. In this case, the parties entered into a compromise and, therefore, an occasion for the Appellate Authority passing an order for eviction did not arise. Secondly, by virtue of settlement arrived at between the parties, the landlords did not obtain possession of the building; the tenant shifted from one part of the building to another part of the same building. The tenant did not 'vacate' the building. 'Vacate', normally, means to go away, to leave. (See Surinder Singh Sibia v. Vijay Kumar Sood, (1992) 1 SCC 70 para 2). The landlord can be said to have obtained possession of any building if the tenant has correspondingly vacated such building. Such is not the case before us. Molar Mal's case which has been relied ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mplating all possible situations which may arise in future litigation and in myriad circumstances. The scope is always there for the Court to interpret the law with pragmatism and consistently with the demands of varying situations. The construction placed by the Court on statutory provisions has to be meaningful. The legislative intent has to be found out and effectuated. Law is part of the social reality (See - Law in the Scientific Era by Justice Markandey Katju, 2000 Ed., p.33) Though Law and Justice are not synonymous terms they have a close relationship, as pointed out by the American jurist Rawls. Since one of the aims of the law is to provide order and peace in society, and since order and peace cannot last long if it is based on injustice, it follows that a legal system that can not meet the demands of justice will not survive long. As Rawls says Laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well arranged, must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust . (ibid, p.72). Clearly law cannot be so interpreted as would cause oppression or be unjust. Life is not static and so the law cannot afford to be static. The third proviso cannot be so interpreted as to restri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tire building, which is needed by a landlord for his personal use, is occupied by more than one tenant, he or she cannot take out eviction proceedings against the other tenants after having evicted one. The object of this proviso is that a landlord should not be allowed to seek unreasonable ejectments of tenants from independent buildings if he has already succeeded in evicting a tenant from a building which is sufficient for his personal occupation. In our opinion, the interpretation placed by the High Court on the local law takes a practical, pragmatic, reasonable and balanced view of the law and deserves to be upheld. We find it difficult to subscribe to the view taken in Molar Mal's case that eviction of three other tenants from the premises which are part of the same building, would disentitle the landlord from pursuing the proceedings for eviction against yet another tenant in spite of his requirement for possession over such part of the building being found to be bona fide, subsisting and real. Having held that third proviso is not attracted to the facts and circumstances of the present case and, therefore, that provisio cannot cause any dent in the entitlement of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r the occupation by landlord of any other residential accommodation of whatever nature, in abstract and without consideration of any other relevant factor would be enough to attract the applicability of the first Proviso and to deny the landlord his right to seek an order of eviction against the tenant? In our opinion, the first Proviso is not to be read in isolation. It has to be read along with the principal provision to which it is appended. The ground for eviction in the case of a residential building is he requires it for his own occupation . If the pleadings and the evidence adduced by the landlord do not make out a case of requirement, there would be no question of the tenant being directed to put the landlord in possession. Even on the requirement having been proved, the landlord would be denied the order for possession from the tenant because of his being in occupation of 'another residential building owned by him in the same urban area'. The occupation of another residential building, to act in denial of the landlord's right to evict the tenant to satisfy his requirement, must have correlation with the requirement of the landlord. To illustrate, another resid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oviso so as to disentitle the landlord from evicting him in spite of the requirement having been proved. On the tenant having pleaded and proved that the landlord has vacated another residential building in the same urban area within five years of the filing of the application, the onus will shift again on the landlord to either rebut the plea or to prove sufficient cause for such vacating. In the present case, there is complete lack of pleadings and evidence so as to enable a finding of fact being recorded which would attract applicability of the second proviso. Secondly, 'sufficient cause' is also discernible from the facts available on record in the present case. As held in Surinder Singh Sibia's case (supra), 'Sufficient cause' has been construed liberally in keeping with its ordinary dictionary meaning as adequate or enough. That is, any justifiable reason resulting in vacation has to be understood as sufficient cause. For instance economic difficulty or financial stringency or family reasons may compel a landlord to let out a building in his occupation. So long as it is found to be genuine and bona fide it would amount to vacating a building for suffic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ictions because of paucity of accommodation in urban areas. The Rent Control Legislations, generally aim at preventing rack-renting and resorting to evictions by unscrupulous and greedy landlords, who take advantage of the shortage in availability of accommodations in cities and dictate their terms to the tenants and if they do not follow the dictates, subject them to eviction. The Rent Control Legislations are generally heavily loaded in favour of the tenants and the provision dealing with which the courts at times lean in favour of the landlords is the one which permits the landlord to seek eviction of the tenant on the ground of requirement for his own occupation, residential or non-residential. There are weak amongst the tenants as also amongst the landlords. (See Joginder Pal's case, supra, paras 9 and 32) Take the case of a landlord knocking the doors of the court seeking its assistance for a roof over his head or for a reasonably comfortable living, when he is himself either in a rented accommodation or squeezing himself and his family members in a limited space, while the tenant protected by the Rent Control Law is comfortably occupying the premises of the landlord or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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