TMI Blog1965 (10) TMI 74X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d a suit in the Court of Small Causes, Bombay against P. S. Nambiar and K. A. Nambiar for recovery of possession of the room, P. S. Nambiar being sued as the tenant and K. A. Nambiar as the person in occupation of the room. The grounds on which ejectment was sought were that (1) P. S. Nambiar had sublet the room without the permission of the appellants, (2) he had been in arrears with his rent from January 1, 1956 and (3) the premises were required by the appellants for their own use and occupation. On proof of any of these grounds an ejectment decreecould be passed against the tenant under the provisions of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947, hereafter referred to as the Rent Act. The defendants could not be personally served and eventually service of the summons was effected by affixing it on the room. That was due service of' the summons but the defendants did not enter appearance to the suit. Evidence was led on behalf of the appellants to prove that the rents were in arrear as stated and that they required the room reasonably and bona fide for their own use and occupation as such trustees. No evidence appears to have been led as to any sublet ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed an ejectment decree on the ground that they wanted to occupy the room themselves, they did not intend to let it out and so, in the absence of such intention at the date of requisition, the room was not premises within the Act and could not be requisitioned. According to the appellants the order of requisition was hence bad. This argument does not seem to me to be well founded. The words let ,or intended to be let separately are only applicable to a part of a building for there is no question of a whole building being let separately; a whole building is not joint with anything else separately from which it can be let. That being so, it seems to me that the words let or intended to be let, were used only to indicate that a part of a building is not to be understood as premises capable of being requisitioned unless the landlord let it or intended to let it separately from the rest which might be in his occupation. The reason for treating a part of the building in this way was apparently that it would cause hardship to a landlord to force him to accept in a part of his house a stranger as a tenant. A part of building was considered by the statute to be fit for requisition only wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be within the letter of the Act, they are not within its spirit or intendment. In my view, the requisition made in this case was not for a public purpose contemplated by the Act nor was the power of requisition conferred by the Act intended to be exercised in the circumstances that prevailed. There has been in a legal sense, a mala fide use of the powers conferred by it. I proceed to set out the reasons which have led me to this view. I should state here that this aspect of' the matter had not been presented to the High Court for its consideration. Under the Act premises could be requisitioned only for a public purpose. Public purpose would no doubt include the purpose of finding a shelter for a homeless person. This has indeed been held by this Court in The State of Bombay v. Bhanji Munji ) [1955] 1 S.C.R. 777. A person evicted from a premises in his occupation may be a homeless person. Now in the present case the requisition had been made for K. A. Nambiar. He had no doubt been evicted from the premises in question. I will assume he had no other home in which he could take shelter and that he was a homeless person. But the question still remains whether he was a homeless ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that powers under the Requisition Act were intended to be exercised to set at naught the judgment of a Court and restore possession to the evicted tenant. In my opinion, in the circumstances prevailing, the premises could not be requisitioned at all for if they were requisitioned even for putting a third person in possession the result might be that the evicted tenant rendered homeless for no fault of his own would have to go without a shelter while the third person to whom the premises were allotted was provided with a home. It would be unnatural to think that the Act intended such an anomalous situation. 1, therefore, think that the requisition,. order was outside the Act and invalid. This view finds some support from the judgment of the Ap- pellate Bench of the High Court. It was there said that if the premises had been allotted to K. A. Nambiar though he was in arrears with the rent and for that reason evicted, then it would have to be held that the orders of requisition and allotment were not free, from mala fide . The learned Judges however held that K. A. Nambiar had no liability for rent as he was not the tenant, that liability being only that of P. S. Nambiar who was t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... recovers possession, the landlord is liable to a penalty of imprisonment or fine and, what is important, the Court may also on the application of the evicted person order the landlord to place him in occupation of the pre- mises on the original terms and conditions. Now s. 6 of the Requisition Act says that when premises become vacant as a result of the tenant having been evicted, the landlord shall give intimation of the vacancy to the prescribed authority within seven days and he shall not occupy the premises or permit them to be occupied by anyone before giving the intimation of vacancy and also for one month from the date when the intimation given is received by the authority. It would appear, therefore, that a conflict will arise between the two Acts if both were applicable at the same time in a case where the tenant has been evicted on the ground that the landlord required the premises for personal occupations under one the landlord has to occupy the premises within a month while under the other he cannot occupy them for a month or longer. This conflict must be harmnonised and the only way to, do so is to say that the Requisition Act does not apply to a case: where the landl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng that view. It is not in dispute that in this case there was no homeless person prospective or actual to the knowledge of the requisitioning authorities who required accommodation, except K. A. Nambiar. He had given intimation of the vacancy and had at the same time requested that the room be requisitioned and allotted to him. Both the orders were besides made on the same day. It is obvious that the two orders are connected and, therefore, really one. The contention that the orders were separate is, to my mind, too naive to be accepted. There is in the present case, therefore, really one order and that must go. In the course of the hearing in this Court our attention was repeatedly drawn to the fact that this was a case of a suppressed vacancy . What was meant by suppressed vacancy was that the appellants had failed to give notice of the vacancy as required by S. 6 of the Requisition Act. On the facts, it has to be held that the appellants had not given the necessary notice. But I do not see that makes any difference to the present case. The Requisition Act nowhere says that larger powers of requisition may 'be exercised where the required notice has not been given. Those ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... commodation for requisitioning the premises, room No. 26, under the Bombay Land Requisition Act, 1948 (Act XXXIII of 1948), hereinafter called the Act, and for allotting it to him as he had been evicted therefrom on April 30, 1959. On July 1 1, the Accommodation Officer issued a notice to the appellants to show cause why the room be not requisitioned under the Act. The appellants showed cause and, by his letter dated August 17, 1959, the Accommodation Officer informed the appellants that on the evidence available to him he had come to the conclusion that it was a case of suppressed vacancy. Against this order of the Accommodation Officer the appellants appealed to the Government of Bombay. On September 10, 1959 the Government of Bombay issued the requisition order. It reads : Whereas. on inquiry it is found that the premises specified below had become vacant on the 30th day of April, 1959. Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (a) of sub-section (4) of section 6 of the Bombay Land Requisition Act, 1948 (Bom. XXXIII of 1948), the Government of Bombay, is pleased to declare that the said premises had become vacant after 4th December, 1947 and to req ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the High Court that this appeal has been filed. Besides the two contentions urged before the High Court, it has also been contended for the appellants that the premises were not vacant as contemplated by the Act and that therefore they could not have been requisitioned. The requisition order is made under s. 6(4) of the Act.Sub-s- (1) of s. 6 reads If any premises situate in an area specified by the State Government by notification in the Official Gazette, are vacant on the date of such notification and wherever any such premises are vacant or become vacant after such date by reason of the landlord, the tenant or the subtenant, as the case may be, ceasing to occupy the premises or by reason of the release of the premises from requisition or by reason of the premises being newly erected or reconstructed or for any other reason the landlord of such premises shall give intimation thereof in the prescribed form to an officer authorised in this behalf by the State Government. Sub-s. (2) requires the landlord to give an intimation to the State Government by registered post within 7 days of the premises become vacant or becoming. available for occupation. Sub-s. (3) prohibit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r occupation by themselves, a ground mentioned in s. 13(1)(g) of the Rent Act, that room No. 26 could not be said to be intended to be let on the ejectment of the Nambiars on April 30, 1959 and therefore did not come within the term 'premises'. The argument is that the intention about the letting of the building or part of it is not to be determined once for all when it is let but is to be determined on each occasion the part of the building falls vacant. If the same intention exists then, the part of the building will answer the definition of premises, but if such an intention does not exist and the landlord intends to occupy the building himself or even does not intend to let it, the, building would not come within the definition of the, word 'premises'. We consider this argument unsound. If accepted, the purpose of the Act will be mostly defeated. While the object of the Rent Act was to control the rent payable by a tenant and his eviction from the premises, the object of the Act was to requisition premises for making them available to the persons in need of accommodation.' Both sections 5 and 6 empower the State Government to requisition land or premises for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... occupy them, become vacant and therefore subject to an order of requisition by the State Government. So long as the landlord was occupying the building or part of a building, it would not come within the definition of 'premises' if the argument for the appellants that the intention to let must be determined on each occasion of a building or part of a building falling vacant. The expression 'premises' in S. 6(1) of the Act clearly contemplates buildings in the occupation of the landlord, buildings which were neither let nor could possibly be said during the period of occupation to be intended to be let. We are therefore of the view that from the date of the enforcement of the Act, every building comes within the expression 'premises' and that a part of a building comes within the expression if it is let or if it is intended to, be let separately on that date. Room No. 26, which had been let, was 'premises' within the meaning of that term in the Act. The fact that the appellants got the Nambiars ejected from room No. 26 on the ground that they themselves reasonably and bona fide required the premises for their use and intended to occupy it, does not ma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... K. A. Nambiar who had illegally occupied them when P. S. Nambiar ceased to occupy them, had not paid the rent to the landlords-appellants, took various steps to delay the execution of the decree for ejectment secured by the landlords-appellants and applied to the Accommodation Officer for allotment of the, house on the day following the ejectment. These circumstances, do not, in law, make the requisition order mala fide when the order was not made on account of any animus against the appellants or for a purpose for which requisition could not have been made. Sub-s. (4) of s. 6 empowers the State Government to requisi- tion premises for a public purpose. It has, been held that requisitioning the premises for allotment to a person who is homeless i.e., who has no premises to occupy, would be requisitioning for a public purpose, vide The State of Bombay v. Bhanji Munji [1955] 1 S.C.R. 777 where this, Court said at p. 785 : If therefore a vacancy is allotted to a person who is in fact houseless, the purpose is fulfilled. It may not appear very right, on grounds of sentiment and propriety, that a tenant who has not behaved properly towards the landlord and had been remiss in his ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d to receive rents on their own account and not to persons who receive or are entitled to receive rents as a trustee. A trustee-landlord can require the premises under s. 13(1)(g) for occupation for purposes of the trust. The trustee- landlord himself need not be a homeless person. No occasion arose in the ejectment suit for the Court to determine whether reasonable accommodation was available for the tenant and whether greater hardship would be caused to the landlord if no ejectment be ordered as the suit was uncontested. The provisions of s. 13 (2A) of the, Rent Act show that the needs of the armed forces of the Union or their families get precedence over the needs of the landlord. The needs of the landlord therefore are not such a controlling factor as to over-ride the provisions of the Act if the requisition of the premises in suit comes within them. Requisition under the Act is for a public purpose and there seems to be no good reason why the needs of the landlord be not deemed subservient to the requirements of public purpose as judged by the State Government. Another ground for the non-applicability of the Act to such ejected person, is urged on the basis of the provis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ant ceasing to occupy them but the Explanation to S. 6 clearly states that the premises which are in the occupation of a tenant shall be deemed to become vacant when such tenant ceases to be in occupation by eviction. An exception could have been made in case of evictions for a particular reason, such as in cl. (g) of sub-s. (1) of s. 13 of the Act. The legislature made no such exception. The fields of operation, of the two Acts, the Rent Act and the Act, are different. The Rent Act deals with the question arising between the landlord and the tenant on account of the incidents of tenancy, while the Act deals with the necessities of a public purpose as determined by Government in a particular area for which a notification under sub-s. (1) of S. 6 has been issued, keeping in mind the interests of the land-lord also. The Civil Court, in deciding a suit for eviction, simply takes into consideration the needs of the landlord vis-a-vis the tenant and the grounds of eviction. It does not take into consideration the requirements of any public purpose. It adjudicates between the rights of the landlord and the tenant in accordance with the statutory provisions of the Rent Act ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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