MOTICHAND BALUBHAI Vs. DISTRICT MAGISTRATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application by Motichand Balubhai against whom an order has been made by the District Magistrate of Surat directing him, under Rule 81(2) of the Defence of India Rules, 1939, to refrain from asking Lallubhai Bechardas, his tenant, to vacate any part or the whole of the premises not occupied by him as tenant or from doing anything to disturb his peaceful possession, enjoyment and occupation of the said premises during the pendency of the present war or until such earlier time as the said tenant may choose to vacate the said premises, provided he continues to pay the rent. The order purports to have been made under Rule 81(2) of the Defence of India Rules. The applicant filed a suit, viz. Small Cause Suit No. 1046 of 1943, in the Court of the First Class Subordinate Judge of Surat in October, 1943, for certain arrears of past rent and for possession from the tenant. The Court made a decree in favour of the applicant on February 21, 1944, granting him possession and the arrears of rent. Some time before that date the tenant approached the District Magistrate alleging that his landlord was seeking to evict him without any proper ground justifying such action and asking the District Magistrate to use his powers under the Defence of India Rules. It appears that the applicant for some reason or other failed to appear before the District Magistrate and the order complained of came to be passed about the same date as the date of the decree.

(2.) COMING to the merits of the application, it is necessary to refer to the material parts of Sub-rule (2) of Rule 81 under which the order in question purports to have been made. Sub-rule (2), so far as material, reads thus : The Central Government or the Provincial Government, so far as appears to it to be necessary or expedient for securing the defence of British India or the efficient prosecution of the war, or for maintaining supplies and services essential to the life of the community, may by order provide (bb) for regulating the letting and sub-letting of any accommodation whether residential or non-residential, whether furnished or unfurnished and whether with or without board, and in particular (ii) for preventing the unreasonable eviction of tenants and sub-tenants from such accommodation. Those powers have now been delegated to the District Magistrate of Surat under the provisions of Section 2(5) of the Act.

(3.) THE rule will, therefore, be made absolute and the order of the District Magistrate set aside. We do not intend that our order should be regarded as a bar to any application the tenant may intend to make in future, if so advised, for obtaining art appropriate order under the Defence of India Rules in his favour.