JUDGMENT

Khare, J.-In these appeals, two questions that arise for consideration are these - (a) whether the tenancy in respect of the premises governed by The Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act (hereinafter referred to as "the State Rent Act") is extinguished by destruction of the subject matter of tenancy i.e. the premises by natural calamities and (b) on the destruction of property whether the civil court has jurisdiction to entertain and try the suit for recovery of possession of land brought by the landlord.

2. The case in brief is that the predecessor-in-interest of the respondent landlord let out a shop to the defendant-appellant herein. The said shop was razed to the ground due to accidental fire on 9.1.1990 and there remained only the vacant land. The appellant-tenant, after destruction of the shop constructed a new shop on the same site without the consent and permission of the respondent-landlord. Under such circumstances, the respondent landlord filed a suit for mandatory injunction for demolition of the new shop constructed by the appellant and for recovery of possession of the land on which the old super structure stood. The contention of the appellant in the