Judgment

VENKATACHALA, J.- The question that needs our consideration and decision in this appeal by special leave is : Can a tenant of a residential building who is allotted a residence reasonably sufficient for his requirements and becomes liable for eviction from that residential building on an application made by his landlord under Section 14(3)(a)(iv) of the Himachal Pradesh Urban Rent Control Act, 1987 - the 1987 Act resist grant of such application on the ground of having lost the allotted residence by surrender.

2. Antecedent facts are briefly these. The appellant was a tenant of a residential building, Shop No. 6, Second Floor, Chhota Shimla Bazar, Shimla under its owners. When that residential building was sold by its owners to the respondent under a registered sale deed dated 23-9-1982, the appellant became the tenant of the respondent in respect of it by accepting him as his landlord. However, by then, the appellant was in possession of a residence allotted to him as a government servant of the State of Himachal Pradesh. Since the provision in Section 14(3)(a)(f) of the Himachal Pradesh Urban Rent Control Act, 1971 - the 1971 Act entitled a landlord to get possession of a