Point of Law : S. 23(3) makes it incumbent upon the learned Controller to give notice to the landlord or the person(s) entitled to receive the deposited rent before passing an order of forfeiture.

ORDER :

Petitioner has invoked Section 24 (5) of the H.P. Urban Rent Control Act, 1987 (Act in short) against the impugned order passed by learned Rent Controller on 09.08.2018, rejecting the prayer of the petitioner for withdrawal of amount of Rs.34800/- deposited by him in the Court as arrears of rent.

2. Relevant facts are as under: -

2(i) Petitioner moved an application under Section 21 of the Act. This application filed in the year 2016/2017 was with the averments that the petitioner was tenant in the premises in question, belonging to the respondent-landlord Sh. Bhagat Ram Sachdeva. Petitioner had been paying the rent of the premises in question. The landlord Sh. Bhagat Ram Sachdeva had refused to accept the rent w.e.f. August 2014. The prayer was made in the application to allow the petitioner to deposit a sum of Rs.34800/- towards rent of the tenanted premises in the Court for the period 1.08.2014 to December, 2016.

2(ii). The petitioner deposited a sum of Rs.34800/- in the Court on 01.01.2017 by way of a demand draft.

2(iii). It appears that reply to the application moved by the petitioner was filed by the landlord Sh. Bhagat Ram Sachdeva, contending that the rate of rent was Rs.1500/- per month. He also alleged in the reply that original tenant was one Shri Naresh Gupta, who had sublet the premises in question to the petitioner.

2(iv). The landlord Sh. Bhagat Ram Sachdeva died during pendency of the proceedings.

2(v). During hearing of the case before learned Rent Controller on 09.08.2018, learned counsel for the petitioner made an oral prayer for withdrawing the application filed by the petitioner under Section 21 of the Act with further prayer to allow the petitioner to withdraw the rent deposited by him.

2(vi). The oral prayer made by learned counsel for the petitioner qua withdrawal of the rent amounting to Rs.34800/- was disallowed by learned Rent Controller vide order dated 09.08.2018.

3. Aggrieved against non-acceptance of his prayer for withdrawing the rent amount so deposited, the petitioner has preferred the instant civil revision.

In the instant case, notice was issued to the sole respondent Shri Rajesh Sachdeva, son of landlord Sh. Bhagat Ram Sachdeva, (respondent in application under Section 21 of the Act). As per office report, the said respondent has been served, however, none appeared on his behalf.

4. To a query of the Court regarding maintainability of the civil revision, learned counsel for the petitioner placed reliance upon the notification dated 10.10.2006, issued by the State Government under Section 24 (1) of the Act, which reads as under:-

“No. LSG-A(3)-1/71-11-In supersession of this Department notification of even number dated 26-5-1988, published in Rajpatra, Himachal Pradesh (Extraordinary), dated 7th June, 1988 and in exercise of powers vested in him under sub section (1) of Section 24 of the Himachal Pradesh Urban Rent Control Act, 1987 (Act No. 25 of 1987) the Governor, Himachal Pradesh is pleased to confer the powers of appellate authorities on all the District and Sessions Judges/Additional District and Sessions Judges in respect of the urban areas in their respective existing jurisdictions to hear appeals against the orders made by the Rent Controllers under sections 4,5,11,12,13,14 [Except 14(3) (a) (i) and 21 of the said Act."

The order impugned herein has not been passed under the provisions made specifically appealable in the aforesaid notification. Therefore, in terms of Section 24(5) of the Act, the instant civil revision would be maintainable.

5. Coming to the merits of the matter, the petitioner had moved an application under Section 21 of the Act for deposit of the rent. He deposited an amount of Rs.34800/- towards the rent of the premises in question for the period August 2014 to December, 2016. Learned Rent Controller has recorded in the impugned order that landlord Sh. Bhagat Ram Sachdeva died during pendency of the application under Section 21 of the Act. The oral prayer made by le