1. The first respondent in this petition applied to the Rent Court under the Malabar Tenancy Act, 1929, as amended, for the fixation of fair rent of a holding, alleging himself to be the sole tenant thereof under the petitioner-landlord. The latter contended, that the second respondent in this petition, who is the wife of the first respondent, was also a joint tenant of the holding with the first respondent, and that therefore the application for the fixation of fair rent made by the first respondent alone was not maintainable. Earlier, the petitioner had instituted a suit O.S. No. 234 of 1955 in the Ottapalam Munsiff's Court for the recovery of arrears of rent from the tenants, being respondents 1 and 2 who were impleaded as defendants therein. The Rent Court, while holding that the proceedings before it for the fixation of fair rent cannot be stayed under the provisions of S.10 of the Civil Procedure Code, dismissed the application, on the ground, that the question as to who are the tenants was the subject matter of the suit aforesaid, and that therefore the application could not be maintained. The first respondent took the matter on appeal to the subordinate judge at