1. The Petitioners are the owners of a house within the Tellicherry Municipality of which the 1st respondent entered into occupation as a tenant on 23-3-1952 on a monthly rent of Rs. 30/- and has since been in occupation. She was content to pay rent at the agreed rate till 1-7-1959. Thereafter she paid no rent with the result that the petitioners sent her a registered notice threatening her with eviction on the ground of the non-payment. Her answer to this was to make an application to the Rent Control Court under S.5 of the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act (Act 16 of 1959) praying that, under the proviso to subsection (2) of that section, the fair rent of the building be fixed at Rs. 17.25, the monthly rent on the basis of which house tax for the building had been fixed by the municipality being Rs. 15/-. It was not disputed that this was the monthly rent on the basis of which house tax was fixed for the year in which the 1st respondent's tenancy commenced, and, taking the view that the proviso referred to fixed the ceiling at 15% more than this rent, the Rent Control Court allowed the 1st respondent's application and fixed the fair rent at Rs. 17.25 with