JUDGMENT

A.P. Srivastava, J. - This is a Defendants application in revision which arises out of a landlord's suit for fixation of rent u/s 5(4) of Act III of 1947.

2. The Plaintiff claimed to be the Mutwalli of a waqf which was the owner of the two shops in dispute occupied by the Defendant. The agreed rent was Rs. 20 per month. The Plaintiff, however, alleged that the annual reasonable rent of the accommodation was inadequate and that keeping in view the rent paid in respect of similar accommodation in the locality the fair rent of the shops should be Rs. 30 per month, etc therefore prayed that the rent of the shops in dispute be fixed at Rs. 30 per month with effect from 1-8-1953.

3. The Defendant contested the suit and pleaded that the rent of the shops in dispute was Rs. 9 per month till 1944. Then it was increased by one rupee and the rent continued as Rs. 10 per month till 1946. In 1947 it was again increased to Rs. 17 per month and subsequently when the landlord insisted it was raised to Rs. 20 per month. He denied that the annual reasonable rent of the accommodation was inadequate or that the rent he was paying was unfair keeping in view the rent paid in respect of similar acc