Judges : V.KHALID
STANDARD CASHEW INDUSTRIES - Appellant
Versus
KRISHNAN - Respondent
Case No : C.R.P. No. 1226 of 1980
Decided On : 08/04/1980
Advocates Appeared :
V. Bhaskaran Nambiar, C.R. Natarajan M.K. Ananthakrishnan & R. Bhaskaran For Petitioners C.K. Sivasankara Panicker, K.S. Radhakrishnan K.S. Balakrishnan For Respondent
lease - eviction - Kerala Buildings (Lease & Rent Control) Act - S.11(3)
Fact of the Case:
The landlord sought eviction of the tenant from a running cashew factory based on bona fide need and waste. The tenant contested the claim, arguing that the lease was outside the purview of the Act and not a lease of a building. The courts below found in favor of the landlord's bona fide need and dismissed the revision.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that the lease of the factory fell within the definition of 'building' under S.2 of the Act and that the landlord had established a bona fide need for eviction.
Issues: The issues involved the interpretation of the lease in relation to the definition of 'building' under the Act and the landlord's bona fide need for eviction.
Ratio Decidendi: The court interpreted the definition of 'building' under the Act and emphasized that the lease of a factory with fittings and machinery adapted for running the business fell within the Act's definition of 'building'. The court also considered the landlord's honest and bona fide need for eviction.
Final Decision: The Civil Revision Petition was dismissed, upholding the landlord's claim for eviction based on bona fide need.
1. The tenant in a rent control petition is the revision petitioner. The building sought to be evicted is a running cashew factory. The landlord-respondent obtained rights in the property as per a document dated 20-8-1974. After waiting for the statutory period he filed the petition on two grounds, namely, bona fide need and waste. The claim for bona fide need found favour with all the courts. Hence this revision.
2. The petitioner's counsel urged two points before me: (I) that on the admitted facts of the case, the claim of the landlord will not come within S.11(3) of the Kerala Buildings (Lease & Rent Control) Act and (2) that the lease in question is one falling outside the purview of the Act.
3. Before the court of the Rent Controller the case of the tenant was that the petition related to a building and land held under a licence and not a lease. It was also contended that the claim put forward did not amount to bona fide need. The first court held against the contentions. Before the appellate authority also the same case was repeated without success. Before the revisional court the case of licence appears to have been given up obviously because the petition and the counter proceeded on the footing that Ext. A2 is only a lease. The revisional court has observed that it was only at the evidence stage that the case of licence was put forward. The case put forward, according to him, was that Ext. A2 is basically a lease of land or at any rate a composite lease and therefore the provisions of the Act did not apply. That court found that Ext. A2 was not a lease of the land or a composite lease. It accepted the case based on bona fide need and thus dismissed the revision. The ground taken now in the revision petition as ground No. 9 is that the Courts below should have held that the lease was a composite lease outside the purview of the Rent Control Act. But what is argued before me is not that it is a composite lease but that it is a lease of a running factory and not a lease of a building. This contention was rested largely on the decision reported in Dwarka Pai. v. Dwarka Das (A1R.1975 SC. 1758) and it is contended that the case on hand came squarely within the said decision. Though this question in its present form was not put forward before the courts below, I shall deal with it since it can be said to be a jurisdictional issue. But before doing so, I will refer to the necessary facts of the case.
4. It is the admitted case of the petitioner and the respondents that they are cashew processors and exporters. The respondent is an actual user as per the Import Trade Control Policy. The cashew factory in question belonged to one Ramachandra Reddiar. The lease in question was taken by the petitioner from him. The respondent purchased it for a consideration of Rs. 1,50,000/, The respondent has two factories of his own. He took another factory on lease for one year i.e 1972-73. After the expiry of that period, he surrendered the factory. It was thereafter that he purchased the present factory. The respondent issued a notice to the petitioner after he obtained rights in the property, to vacate the premises. This notice was followed by two suits. O.S. No. 122 of 1974 was filed by the petitioners against Ramachandra Reddiar for specific performance of an alleged agreement to sell the factory. That suit was dismissed for default. (Ext. A8 judgment and Ext.A9 decree). A petition to restore the suit to file was dismissed as per Ext. A10 order. Second suit, O. S. No. 784 of 1974 was also filed by the petitioner for a permanent injunction restraining the respondent from trespassing into the land portion or taking the usufructs of the trees therefrom. That was also dismissed. It was confirmed in appeal. In the meantime the present application was filed for eviction under the Act.
5. I will, refer to the terms of the lease and consider the plea whether the lease relates to a building or not. Ext. A2 is the lease, entered into .' bet
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