JUDGMENT

Madan B. Lokur, J. –

1. The question before us is whether a landlord can maintain a suit for eviction of his tenant even after an award has been passed in respect of the tenanted property under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. In our opinion, the answer must be in the affirmative.

2. The petitioners in both special leave petitions are the tenants of the respondent landlord. For convenience we have taken the facts from SLP(C) No. 37456 of 2013, but note that the issue that arises in both the cases is the same and the hearing proceeded on this basis.

3. The landlord had instituted Civil Suit No. 433 of 2000 in the Court of the 5th Additional Small Cause Judge and Jt. Civil Judge, Senior Division, Pune for vacant possession of the ‘suit property’ being CTS Old 99-B Raviwar Peth, New 767 Budhwar Peth, Pune from the tenant. The contention of the landlord was that the suit property was open space let out to the tenants and that it was not protected by the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999 (for short the Act). The Trial Court accepted the contention of the landlord and passed a decree on 28th June, 2005 directing the tenant to hand over vacant possession of the sui