JUDGMENT :

This petition under Article 227 of the Constitution is directed against an order declaring vacancy dated 30.10.2018 followed by an order, rejecting a review of the vacancy order and granting release of the demised premises, passed under Section 15(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972 (U.P. Act No. 13 of 1972), [for short “the Act of 1972”]. Also impugned is a revisional affirmation of both these orders by the Additional District Judge, Court No. 13, Kanpur Nagar vide judgment and order dated 11.09.2020 passed in Rent Revision No. 36 of 2018.

2. The issue in this petition is about two adjoining shops located in a house bearing Premises No. 122/229, Sarojini Nagar, Kanpur Nagar. The said shops are hereinafter referred to as the 'shops in dispute'. The two shops were let out to one Sundar Singh, who died issue-less. He was unmarried. The owner and the landlady of the demised premises, Smt. Raj Katyal made an application dated 20.12.2017 before the Rent Control and Eviction Officer, Kanpur Nagar, seeking a declaration of deemed vacancy of the shops in dispute on ground that the tenant Sardar Sundar Singh had died on 21.10.2017 and after his death, his nephews, Gurmeet Singh and Ranjeet Singh had illegally occupied the said shops. It was stated that Gurmeet Singh and Ranjeet Singh were not members of the deceased-tenant's family. It was also said that Sardar Sundar Singh was unmarried, and, therefore, had neither left behind a wife or children. The occupation of the shops in dispute by Gurmeet Singh and Ranjeet Singh was claimed to be unlawful, giving rise to a deemed vacancy.

3. It was also asserted that the landlady required the shops in dispute bona fide for her need and that of her family. It was also said that at the appropriate stage, the landlady would make an application seeking release of the shops in dispute under Section 16(1)(b) of the Act of 1972. The Rent Control and Eviction Officer, [for short “the RC & EO”] directed an inquiry to be made in the matter of vacancy by the Rent Control Inspector. The Rent Control Inspector submitted a report dated 25.01.2018 to the RC & EO. Gurmeet Singh and Ranjeet Singh, who are the petitioners here and faced prospects of the shops in dispute in their possession being declared vacant, filed objection dated 30.04.2018 in the vacancy matter. It was in substance said in the objection that the shops in dispute were rented out to the petitioners' uncle in the year 1967 by the then landlord. The late Sundar Singh, during his lifetime, had admitted the petitioners, his nephews, as partners in his business. In one of the shops, Ranjeet Singh was carrying on trade in watches along with his uncle whereas in the other, Gurmeet Singh was carrying on the trade of dealing in scrap, also along with his uncle. Thus, both the petitioners were in occupation of the two shops as partners with the deceased and lawful tenant thereof, the late Sundar Singh.

4. It was also asserted in the objections that the landlords have never raised any objection to the petitioners occupying and doing business in the shops in dispute over a period as long as 45 years. It was also asserted that after 20.12.2017, when Sardar Sundar Singh suffered from indifferent health, the petitioners had paid rent to the landlady, Smt. Katyal in the sum of Rs.25,000/-, though no receipt for the said rent was issued under the pretext of the plaintiff's receipt book not being by then available. It was also the petitioners' case set out in the objection that both of them had their electricity meters installed on the shop that each was doing business in showing the length and the settled character of their possession as the lawful occupants.

5. Parties exchanged pleadings and evidence in the vacancy matter and the RC & EO vide order dated 30.10.2018 passed in Case No. 2 of 2018, under Section 15(1) of the Act of 1972, declared the shops in dispute to be vacant. He ordered publica