This Letters Patent Appeal is directed against the judgment and order of Panchapakesa Ayyar, J., in C.M.P. No. 1835 of 1058 in A.S. No. 255 of 1957 on the file of this Court. The appellants before us were the respondents in the petition, and The New Theatres Carnatic Talkies Ltd., the respondent before us, was the petitioner in that proceeding. That was an application made under section 9 (1) of the Madras City Tenants Protection Act (III of 1922), as amended by Madras Act (XIX of 1955), to direct the appellants before us to sell to the respondent the land on which the theatre constructed by the respondent stands.

The facts which led up to the appeal in the High Court and the application for a direction to sell the land are the following. A piece of vacant land situate within the limits of Coimbatore Municipality belongs to the appellants, who are mother and son. They granted a lease of the property to one Abhirama Chettiar by a registered lease-deed dated 19th September, 1934, for a period of 20 years. It was provided in the lease-deed that, on the expiry of the twenty-year period, the lease could be renewed for a further term of 20 years if the parties were s