- (1.) Leave granted. These appeals from the decision of the Delhi High court raise the question with regard to landlord's right to evict the tenant under S. 14-B of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 ('the Act') and the corresponding right of the tenant to resist the eviction proceedings. S. 14-B is a special provision made by the legislature conferring certain rights to persons belonging to Armed Forces to recover from their tenants immediate possession of the premises for their occupation.
(2.) Mahendra Raj, the common petitioner in S. L. P. Nos. 7146 and 11425 of 1990, is a tenant occupying the premises of the respondent Col. Ashok Puri. The petitioner in S. L. P. No. 7364 is also a tenant, but occupying the premises belonging to the respondent Brig. V. N. Channa. In the action for eviction brought by the respondents on the ground that they need the premises for their occupation, the tenants sought leave to contest the application. But the Rent Controller was not satisfied with the facts disclosed by the tenants in their affidavits and therefore, denied leave to contest the application for eviction. He considered the affidavits of the parties and accepted the case of the landlord and directed that the tenants shall be evicted. In the case of Mahendra Raj, the Rent Controller made an order dated 2/09/1989 inter alia, observing that the landlord is living in a rented house; that he is paying rent of Rs. 2,000. 00 p. m. ; and that he requires the premises for himself and the members of his family. The eviction order was challenged by the tenant by means of revision petition before the Delhi High court. Almost simultaneously, the tenant also filed a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, challenging the validity of S. 14-B. On 10/05/1990, the High court dismissed the revision as well as the writ petition. Against the judgment of the High court dismissing the writ petition, the tenant has preferred S. L. P. No. 7146 of 1990. Against the order dismissing the revision petition, the tenant has preferred S. L. P. No. 11425 of 1990.
(3.) The tenant in S. L. P. No. 7364 of 1990 has also challenged the order of eviction in a revision petition before the High court and we are told that the revision is still pending. Like the other-tenant, he has alsoquestioned the validity of S. 14-B before the High court under Article 226. The High court dismissed that petition following the decision in Mahendra Raj's case.;