Judgement

VENKATARAMA AYYAR J. : This appeal raises a question as to the powers of a Custodian of Evacuee Property to cancel a lease granted by him under section 12 of the Administration of Evacuee Property Act (XXXI of 1950), hereinafter referred to as the Act. Messrs Abdul Karim and Brothers owned, along with certain other properties which are not the subject-matter of the present appeal, three mills with bungalows and chawls at Ambernath in Thana District and the Bobbin Factory at Tardeo in Bombay.

They having migrated to Pakistan, these properties were declared by a notification dated 12-9-1951 issued under S. 7 of the Act as evacuee property, and under S. 8(1) of the Act, they became vested in the respondent as the custodian for the State. The appellants are displaced persons, and on 30-8-1952 the respondent entered into an agreement with them, Exhibit A, which is, as apty characterised by learned counsel for the appellants, of a composite character, consisting of three distinct matters.

There was, firstly a demise under which the mills and the factory in question were leased to the appellants for a period of five years on the terms and conditions set out therein. Secondly, there