Judgment:- The tenant whose eviction was ordered by the Rent Controller and confirmed by the Court of Small Causes, Madras, is the petitioner in this petition. The landlord filed a petition for eviction of the petitioner from the fourth shop in premises No. 19-C, Woods Road, Mount Road, Madras, on grounds of wilful default in payment of rent from September, 1961 to March, 1962 and for demolition and reconstruction. We are not concerned in this petition with the ground of wilful default in payment of rent. The petitioner submitted that the petition for eviction was not bona fide, that it was filed because he refused to pay the higher rent demanded by the landlord and that the landlord had no intention of demolishing the building for the purpose of constructing a new building.

The Rent Controller on the evidence came to the conclusion that the landlord bona fide required the building for the immediate purpose of demolishing it with a view to erect a new building on the site. He also found that the intention of the landlord was to remove the roof of the building retaining the side walls and that would amount to demolition within the meaning of section 14(1) (b) of the Madras Buildings

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