Judgment

N. L. UNTWALIA, J. - This is an appeal by certificate from the decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court affirming the final decree of mesne profits made by the trial Court in favour of respondent No. 1 (hereinafter called the respondent) against the appellant. Only a few facts are necessary to be stated. The respondent was the landlord of the premises known as Jairam Theatre in the town of Raipur. The appellant was given a lease of the said property by the respondent in the year 1940 for a period of 10 years. On the expiry of the said period, the lease was renewed by a Registered Deed dated August 18, 1951 w.e.f. May 22, 1950 for a further period of 10 years. In this lease the agreed rent payable was fixed at Rs. 1,600/- per month. The lease expired on May 21, 1960. Since the appellant did not vacate the premises on expiry of the lease by efflux of time under Sec. 111 (a) of the Transfer of Property Act, the respondent filed a suit against him on June 25, 1960 for eviction, rent and mesne profits. The trial Court passed a decree of eviction on November 3, 1962. The appellant filed an appeal in the High Court which was dismissed on February 26, 1964. The decision of the High Court was affirmed by this Court on September 25, 1964, Thereafter the appellant vacated the suit premises on October 4, 1964.

2. In the proceeding for fixation of mesne profits, various pleas were taken by the appellant. The trial Court awarded a final decree for mesne profits @ Rs. 4,000/- per month as against the respondents claim of Rs. 6,000/- per month from the date of determination of the lease i.e. from May 22, 1960 upto the delivery of vacant possession by the appellant i.e. October 4, 1964. The High Court has affirmed this decree both in regard to the period and the rate of damages. Hence this appeal.

3. Mr. M. M. Phadke, learned counsel for the appellant made only two submissions in this appeal:

(1) That according to the definition of the tenant in Clause (i) of Sec. 2 of the Madhya Pradesh Accommodation Control Act. 1961 (hereinafter called the Act) the appellant even after the termination of the lease continued in possession of the accommodation as a tenant under the Act, which is conveniently called a statutory tenant. Counsel submitted that the occupation of the accommodation by the appellant became unauthorised and wrongful on and from November 3, 1962 when a decree for eviction was passed by the trial Court and not before that. Mesne profits could be awarded only from the said date.

(2) That the Courts below were not justified in awarding damages @ Rs. 4,000/- per month when the agreed rent as per the lease was only Rupees 1,600/- per month.

4. In Smt. Chander Kali Bai v. Jagdish Singh Thakur, Civil Appeal No. 110 of 1976 the judgment of which was delivered by us on 6-10-1977: we have dealt with a similar, almost identical point as the one urged by Mr. Phadke. On the facts of that case we held that no damages or mesne profits could be awarded for the period between the termination of the contractual tenancy and the passing of the eviction decree. But the ratio of that case is not applicable in the present appeal. Under the Madhya Pradesh Control Act, 1965 - places of entertainment like the one in question were excluded from the operation of that Act as provided for in Section 2 (1) (d). The lease of the accommodation was, therefore, not governed by the 1955 Act. The suit was filed on 25-6-1960 and the rights and liabilities of the parties in the suit were governed simply by the Transfer of Property Act. The 1961 Act came into force on December 30, 1961 and became applicable in the town of Raipur even to the places of entertainment. In other words, if the provisions of the Act or the definition of the term tenant therein could be applied for determining the rights and liabilities of the parties in the pending suit which had been instituted prior to the coming into force of the Act then perhaps there would have been no difficulty in accep