If landlord when seeking eviction, is occupying building of his own, he is not entitled to seek eviction in respect of other building he owns.

The tenant is the petitioner in this revision. The respondent/landlord has filed R.C.O.P.No.9 of 2002 against the petitioner herein before the learned Rent Controller (District Munsif), Tambaram for eviction under Section 10(3)(a)(i) of the Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act on the ground of owners occupation. By an order dated 29. 2003, the above referred Rent Controller dismissed the said application filed by the respondent herein. Aggrieved against the same, the respondent herein preferred an appeal in R.C.A.No.33 of 2003 before the Rent Control Appellate Authority (the Principal Subordinate Judge), Chengalpattu. The learned Rent Control Appellate Authority referred to above by his order dated 11. 2004 set aside the order passed by the Rent Controller and allowed the appeal thereby ordering the eviction of the petitioner herein. Challenging the said order, the present revision has been filed by the petitioner/tenant.

2. For the sake of convenience, the petitioner in this revision is hereinafter referred to as "the tenant" and the respondent as "the landlord".

3. The case of the landlord as put forth by him before the Rent Controller was that the tenant was inducted in the petition premisses on a monthly rent of Rs.1,300/-. After the demise of his son, to avoid loneliness, he along with his wife joined with his daughter and son-in-law in the flat owned by his daughter at Besant Nagar, Chennai. The landlord, who was aged 77 years at the time filing the petition, is suffering from filaria. The flat of the landlords daughter is situated in third floor and due to frequent power shut down, he is not able to use the lift in the apartment and further, he is unable to move for emergent medical attendance as and when he requires. Further, there is no sufficient accommodation in his daughters flat where his son-in-law and grand children are living. Apart from discomfort and inconvenience those existed in the flat of the landlords daughter, the landlord wants to live and spend his last days of life in the house earned by him. He also wants to live salubriously with the gifts of nature, such as free air and light available in the petition premises. Though the tenant has agreed to vacate the premises, since he has not kept his premises, the landlord was constrained to file R.C.O.P.NO.9 of 2002 before the Rent Controller for eviction of the tenant.

4. The said application for eviction was resisted by the tenant contending that the landlord is now residing with his daughter at Besant Nagar and the petition premises is situated away from the bus stand and the railway station and it would be highly inconvenient for the landlord to fulfill his urgent necessities such as medical treatment, etc. The landlords son-in-law tried to evict the tenant which has necessitated the tenant to file the suit in O.S.No.153 of 2002 praying that he should not be evicted from the petition premises except by due process of law. The sum and substances of the said counter is on the footing that with a view to evict him from the petition premises, the landlord has filed the said eviction petition.

.5. The learned Rent Controller found that the requirement of the landlord is not bona fide. Further, it has been held by the Rent Controller that the landlord has not averred in his application that he is not in occupation of a residential building of his own in the city, town or village concerned, which averment is very essential in an application for owners occupation. Further, the Rent Controller has also found that the landlord has not brought out his case within the legal framework by pleading and proving that he did not in occupation of any residential building of his own in the town where the petition premises is situated. Thus, the learned Rent Controller has finally dismissed the application filed by the landlord.

6. The learned Rent Control Appellate Authority, on appeal by the landlord, held that since the landlord has no other