ATMA S. BERARversusMUKHTIAR SINGH

                             ATMA S. BERAR                                       A
                                     V.

                           MUKHTIAR SINGH

                          DECEMBER 12, 2002

              [R.C. LAHOTI AND BRIJESH KUMAR, JJ. ]                              B


      Rent Control and Eviction:

      East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949:
                                                                                 c
     Section I 5(5)-Revisiona.l jurisdiction of High Court-&ope of

      Sections 13(3)(a) and 15(5)-Eviction petition-On ground of
requirement of landlordfor his own occupati_ofl-'-Court below passing eviction
order-High Court setting it aside in the light of events taking place during
pendency of proceedings in exercise of revisional jurisdiction-Justification D
of-Held: High Court not justified in interfering with findings offacts since
such events have no effect on the bona tides and needfound proved by courts
below.

     Code of Civil Procedure, 1908:
                                                                                 E
       Order 7 Rule 7-Power of Court to take note of subsequent events-
Power exists but exercisable subject to three conditions : (i) event must be
brought promptly to notice of Court (ii) consistently with rules ofprocedure
and affording opposite party opportunity to meet the same, and (iii) must have
material bearing on right to relief
                                                                                 F
      Appellant-landlord, a member of Indian Revenue Service,
constructed a residential house. After retirement he lived there with his
wife and later let it out partly to respondent-tenant and shifted to
industrial town for his profession. Ten years later appellant-landlord filed
eviction petition since he wanted the premises for his own occupation. Rent      G
Controller passed an eviction ord_er. Appellate Authority upheld the same.
However, High Court set aside the order in light of the events .which took
place during pendency of proceedings. Hence the present appeal.

     Respondent-tenant contended that the findings arrived at by Rent
                                     47                                          H
    48                       SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A Controller and Appellate Authority were vitiated and High Court was
    justified in interfering in the light of the event which had taken place
    during the pendency of the proceedings.

         Allowing the appeal, the Court

B        HELD: I. The object of conferring revisional jurisdiction on the High
    Court, by Section 15(5) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act,
    1949, is to enable it satisfying itself as to the legality or propriety of an
    order made by the Controller or the proceedings before him. (55-8(

         Ram Das v. Ishwar Chander and Ors., (1988) 3 SCC 131; Prativa Devi
C v. T. V. Krishnan, (1996) 5 SCC 353; Shiv Sarup Gupta v. Dr. Mahesh Chand
    Gupta, (1999( 6 SCC 222; Mudigonda Chandra Mouli Sastry v. Bhimanepal/i
    Bikshalu and Ors., (1999( 7 SCC 66 and Lekh Raj v. Muni Lal and Ors.,
    (2001 J 2 sec 762, referred to.

D        2. The desire of the landlord to be in his own house and live
  comfortably in his own home-castle, restricting his movements so as to
  adjust with ailing physique and weakening faculties is not unnatural,
  illusory, a pretext or mere pretence for getting rid of the tenant. Fed up
  by the litigation and alarmed by the delays in the eviction matters landlord
  offered the tenant to sell his house so that he could settle himself by
E utilizing the sale proceeds in some other house but in the heart of city
  which he loves, for he was born there and remained attached to it in spite
  of moving at places. There is no evidence adduced nor any material
  brought on record to hold that the landlord had ever tried to sell the house
  to anyone other than the tenant himself. Further he has not felt shy of
F admitting having written the two letters, rather having negotiated the sale
  with the tenant. He assigned reasons which sound reasonable and probable
  and explains his conduct. His determination to live in his own house is
  emboldened by the attitude of tenant. Also the appellate authority inferred
  that appellant's links with the city were still alive from the entries
  coittained in the passport showing the landlord's frequent movements
G between India and Canada. (54-8-FJ
          Ram Das v. /shwar Chander and Ors., (1988) 3 SCC 131; Gulabbai v.
    Na/in Narsi Vohra and Ors., (1991( 3 SCC 483; Bega Begum v. Abdul Ahad
    Khan, (1979) 1SCC273 and Shiv Sarup Gupta v. Dr. Mahesh Chand Gupta,
H   (199916sec222, referred to.
              A. S. BERAR v. MUKHTIAR SINGH [R.C. LAHOTl;J.]              49
      3. The power of the Court to take note of subsequent events is well-      A
settled and undoubted. However, it is accompanied by three riders: firstly,
the subsequent event should be brought promptly to the notice of the
Court; secondly, it should be brought to the notice of the Court consistently
with rules of procedure enabling Court to take note of such events and
affording the opposite party an opportunity of meeting or explaining such
events; and thirdly; the subsequent event must have a material bearing          B
on right to relief of 1tny party. None of the so-called subsequent events
brought to the notice of High Court as also of this Court by respondent-
tenant, which causes a dent in the case of bona fides and need as were
found proved by the authorities below High Court. Seen in the light of
normal human nature and behaviour, the events pendente lite rather              C
reinforce the direness of the need. [55-H; 56-A·CJ

      4. High Court need not be solicitous and venture in suggesting what
would be more appropriate for the landlord to do. The instant case is an
appropriate case where High Court ought not to have interfered with the
findings of fact arrived at by the two authorities below and that too           D
concurrently, in exercise of his revisional jurisdiction simply because it
was inclined to have different opinion. (56-D-EJ

        Praliva Devi v. T. V. Krishnan, (1996( 5 SCC 353, relied on.
                                                  I
        CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : C\vil Appeal No. 2898 of                 E
2000.

     From the Judgment and Order dated 6. 7 .1999 of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court in C.R. No. 1035 of 1999.

     Ranjit Kumar, Rajiv K. Garg, Mrs. Gulnar Khan and Annam and                F
D.N. Rao for the Appellant.

    A.K. Srivastava, A.S. Sohal and Dr. Raj Kumar Pruthi, for the Sanjeev
Malhotra for the Respondent.

     The Judgment of the Court was delivered by                                 G
      R.C. LAHOTI, J. An order for eviction from residential building on
the ground of requirement of the landlord for his own occupation passed by
the Controller and upheld in appeal by the Appellate Authority has been
upset and reversed by the High Court in exercise of revisional jurisdiction.
The aggrieved landlord is in appeal by special leave.                           H
    50                        SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2002) SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A          Section I 3(3)(a) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949
    (hereinafter the Act, for short) contemplates a landlord making an application
    to the Controller for an order directing the tenant to put the landlord in
    possession of residential building if he requires it for his own occupation.
    The order of the Controller is subject to appeal before Appellate Authority.
    Under sub-section (5) of Section 15 of the Act, the High Court is conferred
B   with jurisdiction of calling for and examining the records for the purpose of
    satisfying itself as to the legality or propriety of any order passed or
    proceedings taken under the Act. The High Court may pass such order in
    relation thereto as it may deem fit.

C         The suit premises are a residential building constructed by the landlord-
    appellant in the year 1961 in the city of Moga. He was a member of Indian
    Revenue Service. He retired and lived in the suit premises with his wife upto
    30.4.1982. On 1.5.1982 he let out a part of the suit premises to the tenant-
    respondent. The appellant, with all his experience acquired in the services,
    thought of trying his luck as a consultant/.advisor in customs and central
D   excise matters and hence shifted to the industrial township of Ludhiana. On
    14.6.1991 the landlord initiated proceedings for the eviction of the· tenant-
    respondent alleging that he had grown old and was not in a position to
    continue the profession of consultant/advisor. At one time he had a mind of
    purchasing or renting in suitable accommodation but at the end he had given
E   up the idea and decided finally to settle in Moga and live peacefully in the
    suit premises of his own. His wife too was in a fragile state of health and
    Moga provided adequate medical facilities to take care of the wife's health
    apart from the warmth of affection and nearness of friends and relations and
    old acquaintances.

F        The suit premises are the only premises owned by the appellant.
    Admittedly, he has no other premises of his own available for his residence
    <inywhere else.

          The requirement of the landlord, as pleaded and proved, was found
    worth entitling the landlord to an order for recovery of possession over the
G   tenanted premises, in the opinion of the two courts below the High Court. By
    the time the litigation travelled up to the High Court and came to be decided
    by the impugned order dated 6. 7.1999 about 8 years had elapsed in-between .
    The life of the old retired revenue service personnel had not remained static
    and underwent several events in pursuit of peace and comfort so imminently
H   needed in the evening oflife to a person who had the fortune of having good
                 A. S. BERAR v. MUKHTIAR SINGH (R.C. LAHOTI, J.)                   51
    education and also enjoying status and position in life being a member of All         A
    India Services. We would concentrate on dealing with the events which
    occurred pendente lite and predominantly prevailed with the High Court for
    reversing the finding of facts as to requirement which, but for those events,
    probably the High Court would not have been inclined to do. It appears that
    most of the relations of the appellant-landlord are settled in. Canada. The
    appellant spends time with them and stays quite often at Canada. On 1.11.1986,        B
    he acquired status as a permanent resident in Canada. In the year I 995 he has
    also got Canadian citizenship. In November 1989, he let out an additional
    portion of the building to the same tenant, i.e. the respondent. On 16.1.1990
    and 21.2.1990, the appellant wrote two letters to the tenant respondent which
    letters spell out the parties negotiating for sale and willingness of the appellant   C
    to sell the house to the tenant. Admittedly, the negotiations failed. On
    14.6.1991, proceedings for eviction were initiated. On 27.7.1996, the Rent
    Controller passed an order for eviction of the respondent. On 29.9.1997, the
    appellate authority dismissed the tenant's appeal. On 5.3.1998, the High Court
    made a remand to the appellate authority for recording further evidence in
    the light of the two letters dated I 6.1.1990 and 21.2. I 990 affording the           D
    landlord an opportunity of explaining his conduct as disclosed by the two
    letters and if these letters had the effect of causing a dent in ·the case of
    requirement as pleaded by the landlord. The appellant's statement was recorded
    by the appellate authority. The appellate authority once again, by order dated
    19.1.1999, dismissed the tenant's appeal. On 6.7.1999, the tenant's revision          E
    was allowed by the impugned order. The High Court has, in its impugned
    order, held that the appellant-landlord was at an advanced age of life and as
    all his relations were settled in Canada where the appellant too seems to have
    settled, it was difficult to accept the story that the appellant would come back
    to India and live in the suit premises. This finding finds additional strength,



-   in the opinion of High Court, from the factum of the appellant having
    negotiated the sale of the house with the tenant early in the year 1990 as
    revealed by his two letters.

          At this stage, we would like to refer to the statement of the appellant
                                                                                          F



    recorded by way of additional evidence by the appellate authority on 28.4.1998.       G
    The appellant was 80 years of age on that day. He states that he belongs to
    Moga Tehsil where he had built his house and was living happily with his
    family. He wants to reside in his own house. _His wife hails from village Lopo
    in Tehsil Moga. His eyesight has been reduced almost to nil and he has to
    be supported by someone in his movements. His !tearing power was also
    rendered very weak. His wife was almost of his age and though the old age             H
    52                        SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2002] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A had set in for her too yet she was enjoying reasonably good faculties
  functioning well by God's grace. He candidly admitted having written the
  letters dated 16.1.1990 and 21.2.1990. He explained, "When I wrote these
  letters I thought that it would be difficult for me to get the building vacated
  and as such I should sell the same. As such, the correspondence in this
  respect continued for about three months in the beginning of 1990. The
B negotiations did not mature. The respondents refused to purchase the property.
  Thereafter I changed my mind and I made up my mind to live at Moga since
  I could not live at Ludhiana .............. I made up my mind that I was not to
  sell the house at any cost to anyone. None of my daughters is now living at
  Ludhiana." He further stated that he had three sons. Two of them were well
C settled with their families and living away from him. The third son had died
  in an air crash. He had two brothers. Both have died. He again said, "When
  I had written the letters I had a mind to shift to Canada." He went on to say
  that his first cousin Jagat Singh Brar was living just behind the suit house at
  Moga and he too had retired from Indian Revenue Services about 10-12
  years before. He has other landed property in village Guiab Singh Wala,
D Tehsil Moga. He left his practice in 1985 on account of the death of his third
  son.

         In the light of the statement of the landlord, as originally recorded and
  as additionally recorded under the orders of the High Court, indeed a pathetic
E story of landlord-tenant litigation and law's delays is revealed. A retired
  government servant, accompanied by his old aged life companion, is shuttling
  between India and Canada in search of a shelter and settlement in the evening
  of life so as to peacefully pass the balance of his life and to breathe his last
  in his own ·house which is the only property which he had built on his own
  by investing his earnings and his toil. It is true that the appellant has good
F number of kith & kin settled in Canada and the thickness <if relationship with
  them tempted him to try a settlement in Canada but his links and moorings          ..
  in his motherland were not all lost. It is very natural for an ageing Indian to
  witness his sentiments for the motherland and the birth place gaining more
  strength and bondage becoming thicker with the advancement in age. His
G desire to convert the house, which he has built himself, into a home so as to
  live peacefully therein with his wife cannot be said to be unnatural and
  certainly not wishful merely or whimsical.

        One of the grounds for eviction contemplated by all the rent control
  legislations, which otherwise generally lean heavily in favo'ur of the tenants,
H is the need of the owner landlord to have his own premises, residential or
              A. S. BERAR v. MUKHTIAR SINGH [R.C. LAHOTI, J.]                 53
 non-residential, for his own use or his own occupation. The expressions            A
 employed by different legislations may vary such as 'bona fide requirement',
 'genuine need', 'requires reasonably and in good faith', and so on. Whatever
 be the expression employed, the underlying legislative intent is one and that
 has been demonstrated in several judicial pronouncements of which we would
 like to refer to only three.
                                                                                    B
        Jn Ram Dass v. /shwar Chander and Ors., {1988) 3 SCC 131, M.N..
 Venkatachaliah, J. (as His Lordship then was) speaking for the three-Judges
 Bench, said "Statutes enacted to afford protection to tenants from eviction on
 the basis of contractual rights of the parties make the resumption of possession
 by the landlord subject to the satisfaction of certain statutory conditions. One C
                                                                                        1
 of them is the bona fide requirement of the landlord, variously described in
 the statutes as "bona fide requirement'', "reasonable requirement", "bona fide
 and reasonable requirement" or, as in the case of the present statute, merely
 referred to as "landlord requires for his own use". But the essential idea basic
 to all such cases is that the need of ·the· landlord should be genuine and
 honest, conceived in good faith; and that, further, the court must also consider D
 it reasonable to gratify that need. Landlord's desire for possession, however
 honest it might otherwise be, has inevitably a subjective element in it and
 that, that desire, to become a "requirement" in law must have the objective
 element of a "need". It must also be such that the court' considers it reasonable
 and, therefore, eligible to be gratified. In doing so, the court must take all E
 relevant circumstances into consi4eration so that the protection afforded by
 law to the tenant is not rendered merely illusory or whittled down."

         In Gulabbai v. Na/in Narsi Vohra and Ors., [1991) 3 SCC 483, ·· .
. reiterating the view taken in Bega Begum v. Abdul Ahad Khan, [ 1979] 1 SCC .
  273, it was held that the words "reasonable requirement" undoubtedly postulate F
  that there must be an element of need as opposed to a mere desire or wish.
  The distinction between desire and need should doubtless be kept in mind but
  not so as to make even the genuine need as nothing but a desire.

       Recently, in Shiv Sarup Gupta v. Dr. Mahesh Chand Gupta, [1999) 6
 sec 722, this Court in a detailed judgme11t, dealing with this aspect, analysed G
 the concept of bona fide requirement and said that the requirement in the
 sense of felt need which is an outcome of a. sincere, honest desire, in
 contradistinction with a mere pretence or pretext to evict a tenant refers to a
 state of mind prevailing with the landlord. The only way of peeping into.,.. the
 mind of the landlord is an exercise undertaken by the judge of facts by            H
    54                        SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002) SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A placing himself in the armchair of the landlord and then posing a question to
  himself-Whether in the given facts, substantiated by the landlord, the need
  to occupy the premises can be said to be natural, real, sincere, honest? If the
  answer be in positive, the need is bona fide. We do not think that we can
  usefully add anything to the exposition of law of requirement for self
B occupation than what has been already stated in the three precedents.
         Let us revert back to the facts of the case. Can it be said that the desire
  of the landlord to be in his own house and live comfortably in his own
  castle-every hol!Je is a castle to the inmate-restricting his movements so
  as to adjust with ailing physique and weakening faculties is unnatural, illusory,
C a pretext or mere pretence for getting rid of the tenant? What is there to
  demonstrate that the need is divorced of reality, sincerity and honesty? Fed
  up by the litigation and alarmed by the delays which eviction matters
  unfortunately take in law courts, having acquired a proverbial notoriety,
  brought down the landlord on his knees and he offered the tenant to sell his
  house so that he could settle himself by utilizing the sale proceeds in some
D other house but in the heart of Moga Tehsil which he loves, for, he was born
  there and remained attached to it in spite of moving at places. There is no
  evidence adduced nor any material brought on record to hold that the landlord
  had ever tried to sell the house to anyone other than the tenant himself or at
  any time before and after the month of January and February 1990. We must
E give weight to the factor that the landlord has not felt shy of admitting having
  written the two letters-rather having negotiated the sale with the tenant-
  but then he assigns reason which sounds reasonable and probable and explains
  his conduct. His determination to live in his own house is emboldened by the
  attitude of the tenant. We find nothing unnatural about it. The learned appellate
  authority took into consideration the entries contained in the passport showing
F the landlord's frequent movements between India and Canada wherefrom the
  appellate authority inferred that the appellant's links with Moga were still
  alive. The learned senior counsel for the respondent criticized this finding
  submitting that the passport entries show the landlord's entry into India but
  not necessarily his stay at Moga. Suffice it to observe, where else and for
G what the landlord, having reached India, would have gone excepting visiting
  his own place which is the natural urge of any son of the soil to do while
  visiting the country or returning to the motherland.

        Simply because a different Judge of Court of facts could have been
  persuaded to change opinion and draw a different inference from the same
H set of facts is not the jurisdiction of a revisional authority to upset pure
              A. S. BERAR v. MUKHTIAR SINGH [R.C. LAHOTI, J.)                    55
finding of fact. Precedents galore were cited by the learned senior i:Ounsel for       A
the parties dealing with jurisdiction of revisional court to interfere with findings
of fact. In all fairness to the learned counsel, we may refer to a few of them.

      The object of conferring revisional jurisdiction on the High Court, by
sub-section (5) of Section 15 of the Act, is to enable it satisfying itself as to
the legality or propriety of an order made by the Controller or the proceedings        B
before him. In Ram Das v. /shwar Chander and Ors., [1988] 3 SCC 131 it
was held that the nature and scope of revisional jurisdiction conferred on the
High Court shall have to be detennined on the language of the Statute investing
the jurisdiction. In Prativa Devi v. T. V. Krishnan, [1996] 5 SCC 353 a three-
Judge Bench held that the revisional power referable to Section 25-8(8) of             C
Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 is not as narrow as the revisional power under
Section 115 of the CPC and it is also not so wide as an appellate power.
Having kept the legal principles in view and on an objective detenn ination
and on a proper appreciation of the evidence in the light of the surrounding
circumstances a conclusion as to the need of the demised premises for user
by the landlord and his bona tides shall not be liable to be interfered with in        D
exercise of revisional power. In Shiv Sarup Gupta v. Dr. Mahesh Chand
Gupta, (1999] 6 SCC 222 this Court made a comparative study of the
provisions contained in Section 115 CPC in juxtaposition with Section 25-
8(8) of Delhi Act and held that the High Court cannot appreciate or
reappreciate evidence dictated by its mere inclination to take a different view        E
of the facts as if it were a court of facts. A,conclusion arrived at which is
wholly unreasonable or is one that no reasonable person acting with objectivity
could have reached on the material available, ignoring the weight of evidence,
proceeding on a wrong premise of law or deriving such conclusions from the
established facts as betray a lack of reason and/or objectivity would render
the finding 'not according to law' calling for an interference under Section           F
25-8(8) proviso by the High Court. Mudigonda Chandra Mou/i Sastry v.
Bhimanepalli Bikshalu and Ors., [1999] 7 SCC 66 and Leich Raj v. Muni Lal
and Ors., [2001] 2 SCC 762 take the same view. The scope of revisional
jurisdiction under Se.ction I 5(5) of the Act is similar, that is, confined to
testing the legality or propriety of order or proceedings of Controller.               G
      The learned counsel for the tenant-respondent submitted that the findings
arrived at by the Rent Controller and the Appellate Authority were vitiated
and the High Court was justified in interfering therewith especially in the
light of the events which had taken place during the pendency of the
proceedings. The power of the Court to take note of subsequent events is               H
    56                         SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002) SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A well-settled and undoubted. However, it is accompanied by three riders :
  firstly, the subsequent event should be brought promptly to the notice of the
  Court; secondly, it should be broughtto the notice of the Court consistently
  with. rules of procedure enabling Court to take note of such events and
  affording the opposite party an opportunity of meeting or explaining such
B events; and thirdly, the subsequent event must have a material bearing on
  right to relief of any party. We have dealt with each one of the so-called
  subsequent events brought to the notice of the High Court as also of this
  Court by the learned counsel for the tenant-respondent. None of them causes
  a dent in the case of. bona tides and need as were found proved by the
  authorities below the High Court. Seen in the light of normal human nature
C and behaviour, the events pendente lite rather reinforce the direness of the
  need. We need only remind ourselves of the observations made by three-
  Judges Bench of this Court in Prativa Devi's case (supra) "the landlord is the
  best judge of his residential requirements. He has a complete freedom in the
  matter. It is no concern of the courts to dictate to the landlord how, and in
  what manner, he should live or to prescribe for him a residential standard of
D their own". The High Court need not be solicitous and venture in suggesting
  what would be more appropriate fqr the landlord to do. "That was the look
  out·of the appellant and not of the High Court. The gratuitous advice given
  by the High Court was uncalled for .................. There is no law which deprives
  the. landlord of the beneficial enjoyment of his property". The present one,
E in our opinion, is an appropriate case where the High Court ought not to have
  interfered with the findings of fact arrived at by the two authorities below
  and that too concurrently, in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction simply
  beeause it was inclined to have a different opinion.

        The appeal is allowed with costs throughout. The judgment of the High
F Court is set aside and that of the Rent Controller and the Appellate Authority
  restored. An order for recovery of possession over the suit premises, in favour
  of the landlord and against the tenant, shall follow. The tenant-respondent is
  allowed four months' time for vacating the suit premises· and delivering
  vacant and peaceful possession to the appellant-landlord and in-between
G clearing and continuing to clear all the arrears of rent subject to his filing
  usual undertaking within a period of three weeks from today.

    N.J.                                                            Appeal allowed.