Important point
The person who is permanently residing outside India can also claim possession under Section 13-B of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act. All that is required under Section 13-B is that a NRI should return to India and claim the premises for his/her use or for the use of any dependent ordinarily living with him.

Headnote:(i) East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949—Sections 2(dd), 13-B, 18-A—Eviction petition filed by NRI-landlord for eviction of tenant on ground of his requirement u/s 13-B—Summary procedure prescribed u/s 18A of the Act—Standard of proof required by NRI landlord to prove his requirement of the accommodation—Legislative intent for setting up of a special procedure for NRI landlords—Tenant’s right to contest the application restricted to the parameters of Section 13-B of the Act—Strong presumption in landlord’s favour that his requirement of occupation of premises is real and genuine—Allegations made by NRI landlord of his requirement shall be presumed to be genuine and bonafide unless rebutted by the tenant.
       Held : The legislative intent of expeditious disposal of the application for ejectment of the tenant filed by the NRI landlord is reflected from the summary procedure prescribed under Section 18-A of the Act of 1949 which requires the Controller to take up the matter on day-to-day basis till the conclusion of the hearing of an application. The Legislature wants the decision of the Controller to be final and does not provide any appeal or second appeal against the order of eviction, it is only the High Court which can exercise the power of consideration of the case, whether the decision of the Controller is in accordance with law. Section 13-B gives right of ejectment to special category of landlord who is NRI (Non Resident Indian); and owner of the premises for five years before action is commenced. Such a landlord is permitted to file an application for ejectment only once during his life time. Sub-s. (3) of Section 13-B imposes a restriction that he shall not transfer through sale or any other means or lease out the ejected premises before the expiry of the period of five years from the date of taking possession of the said building. Not only that, if there is a breach of any of the conditions of sub-section (3) of Section 13-B, the tenant is given a right of restoration of possession of the said building. (Para 19)
       No doubt the legislative intent in enacting Section 13-B, is to provide for immediate possession of the accommodation owned by the NRI but it cannot be assumed that the legislature wants the NRI landlord/owner, to get the possession of the accommodation from the tenant even if he does not require it and the need pleaded is proved to be a mere pretext to get the accommodation vacated. Had that not been the intention of the legislatures, the phrase ‘required’ by the NRI landlord would not have been used in Section 13-B. The classified landlords are given the benefit of summary trial under Section 18-A of the Act. The summary trial is in two parts. Sub-s. 4 provides that after the service of summons the tenant has no right to contest the prayer for eviction from the residential building, or schedule building and/or non-residential building as the case may be unless he files an affidavit stating the grounds on which he seeks to contest the application for eviction and obtains leave from the controller as provided in Sub-s. 5 of Section 13-B to contest the matter. (Para 21)
       We do not think High Court is right in holding that mere prayer of the NRI landlord that tenanted premises is required by him or his dependent living with him entails decree of eviction on the mere allegation of requirement and no leave to contest can be given in respect of cases which are covered by various provisions restricting the right of the landlord to deal with the premises taken possession of by him in pursuance of the decree for eviction passed by the Controller under Section 13-B of the Act of 1949. We hold that allegations made by the NRI landlord of his requirement shall be presumed to be genuine and bona fide unless rebutted by the tenant by placement of cogent and material facts and evidence in support thereof at the stage of ‘leave to contest’ before the Controller. We feel any other interpretation would completely whittled down and deny the tenant’s right to show and prove that landlord does not in fact, or in law require suit premises. (Para 21)
       (ii) East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949—Sections 2(dd), 13-B—NRI landlord—Eviction petition u/s 13-B—There is no requirement that NRI landlord has permanently settled in India on his return or he has returned to India with an intention to permanently settle in India.
       Held : When we read Section 13-B along with the definition of the NRI it is apparent that the person who is a permanently residing outside India can also claim possession under Section 13-B of the Act. All that is required under Section 13-B is that a NRI should return to India and claim the premises for his/her use or for the use of any dependent ordinarily living with him. There is no requirement that he has permanently settled in India on his return or he has returned to Indian with an intention to permanently settle in India. A NRI may require the accommodation for expansion of his business which he is carrying on in other country or requires the accommodation for his temporary stay. Under Section 13-B, a NRI can also claim ejectment of the tenant from the premises for the purposes of any other person who is dependent on him and is ordinarily living with him, which makes it clear that although a NRI resides permanently in other country, he could get the accommodation vacated for the need of his dependant who ordinarily lives with him and he intends to come to India, choosing it to be his permanent abode. We do not find any substance in the submissions made by the learned counsel that the words “return to India” under Section 13-B of the Act denotes return to India permanently. (Para 24)
       On the interpretation given by us and on a plain reading of the provisions, once in a lifetime possession is given to a NRI to get one building vacated in a summary manner. A Non-resident Indian landlord is required to prove that :- (i) he is a NRI; (ii) that he has return to India permanently or for the temporary period; (iii) requirement of the accommodation by him or his dependent is genuine and; (iv) he is the owner of the property for the last five years before the institution of the proceedings for ejectment before the Controller. The tenant’s affidavit asking for leave to contest the NRI landlord’s application should confine to the grounds which NRI landlord is required to prove, to get ejectment under Section 13-B of the Act. The Controller’s power to give leave to contest the application filed under Section 13-B circumscribe to the grounds and inquiry to the aspects specified in the Section 13-B. The tenant would be entitled for leave to contest only if he makes a strong case to challenge those grounds. Inquiry would be confined to Section 13-B and no other aspect shall be considered by the Controller. (Para 25)
       (iii) Interpretation of Statutes—Legislative Intent—Determination of—It has to be ascertained according to plain language used in the enactment—Golden rule of construction is that when the words of legislation are plain and unambiguous, effect must be given to them—East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949—Sections 2(dd), 13-B.
       Held : Time and again this Court has laid down that legislative intent has to be ascertained according to plain language used in the enactment and basic rule of statutory construction should be preferred which advances the purpose and object of a legislation. (Para 20)
       The golden rule of construction is that when the words of legislation are plain and unambiguous, effect must be given to them. The basic principle on which this rule is based since the words must have spoken as clearly to legislatures, as to judges, it may be safely presumed that the legislature intended what the words plainly say. The legislative intent of the enactment may be gathered from several sources which is, from the statute itself, from the preamble to the statute, from the statement of objects and reasons, from the legislative debates, reports of committees and commissions which preceded the legislation and finally from all legitimate and admissible sources from where they may be allowed. Record may be had from legislative history and latest legislation also. But the primary rule of construction would be to ascertain the plain language used in the enactment which advances the purpose and object of the legislation. (Para 21)

Judgment

P.P. Naolekar, J.—Leave granted in all the Special Leave Petitions.

2. In all the above appeals, a common question of law arises for determination and therefore they are heard together and are decided by the common Judgment.

3. All these appeals have been preferred by the tenants against whom a decree for eviction from their tenanted premises were passed by the Controller and confirmed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In three appeals, namely, S.L.P. (C) No. 17622/2003 - Mohinder Singh vs. Git Singh, SLP (C) 19540/2003 - Laxmi Kant vs. Surjit Singh Channa and SLP (C) 4566/2004 Shangara Singh vs. Malkiat Singh leave to contest were granted by the Controllers and after trial, decrees for ejectment were passed against the tenants. In other appeals, leave to contest the landlords’ applications’ for ejectment were rejected at the initial stage by the Controllers.

4. Certain provisions of The East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (hereinafter to be referred to as ‘The Act of 1949’) which have been inserted by Punjab Act No.9 of 2001 dated 31.5.2001 have been elaborately discussed by the High Court in the matter of Baldev Singh Bajwa vs. Monish Saini and therefore we will refer to the facts of that case for consideration and interpretation of the Sections inserted in the Act of 1949 by Act No.9 of 2001 and shall elaborate and discuss the factual aspects necessary, in regard to the other appeals in the latter part of the Judgment.

5. The facts, in brief, in the matter of SLP (C) 17864/2003- Baldev Singh Bajwa vs. Monish Saini are:

Appellant in this case is a tenant of a disputed shop which was leased out to him vide Rent Note dated 14.03.1985 by Monish Saini, landlord with the consent of other landlords. The landlord was born in Delhi and later migrated to United Kingdom for employment and settled there. He holds a Canadian Passport and is doing service in U.K. The landlord filed an ejectment petition invoking Section 13-B of the Act of 1949 by making averments that the tenant-appellant was bound to surrender immediate possession of the disputed shop to him. He had claimed the status of Non Resident Indian (hereinafter to be referred to as ‘NRI’) as per definition under Section 2 (dd) of the Act. Ejectment was sought on the allegation that he wanted to start business of Transport and Goods Carrier in which he had acquired sufficient experience. On notice of application for eviction, the appellant-tenant filed an affidavit seeking leave to contest, as required under Section 18-A (5) of the Act of 1949. The tenant pointed out that the landlord holds a Canadian Passport and he was living in U.K. and came to India on Tourist Visa and, therefore, has not returned to India permanently. It was also pleaded that respondent did not require the shop as he and his family own various shops around the shop in dispute and had been letting out the same from time to time. The affidavit also mentioned that one very big shop of the respondent-landlord and his family remained vacant and possessed by them. Previously also the ejectment of the premises on other grounds was dismissed. That the respondent could not be regarded as a NRI as there is no likelihood of his return to India for the purpose of doing business. That the ejectment petition by invoking Section 13-B of the Act of 1949 was merely to seek ejectment from the shop in dispute without there being bona fide need. The Controller declined the prayer of the tenant to contest and allowed the petition filed by the respondent under Section 13-B of the Act of 1949 and directed tenant to handover possession of the shop in dispute to the landlord. The Controller held the landlord to be a special category of landlord, i.e., NRI. Controller held that there was no need to ascertain the intention of the landlord regarding his settlement in India as specific penal provision has been incorporated in the Act to counter that. He further held that the availability of other buildings or accommod

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2005 Supreme(SC) 1320

Cases Referred (7)