- (1.) LEAVE granted. The Appellant -landlord has preferred this appeal against the judgment and order dated 30th May, 2012 passed by the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam. By the impugned order, the High Court refused to exercise its jurisdictional power under Article 227 of the Constitution of India and affirmed the order passed by the Appellate Authority.
(2.) THE facts of the case is that claiming eviction of the tenanted premises in question, the Appellant moved before the Rent Control Court, Thiruvananthapuram under Section 11(2)(b) and 11(4)(iv) of the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') against Respondent Nos. 1 and 3, who are the legal heirs of the deceased tenant. The Rent Control Court granted eviction under Section 11(2)(b) only. Two appeals were preferred, one by the Appellant and the other by the Respondent Nos. 1 and 3, which were considered by the Appellate Authority. The Appellant was successful before the RCA. The verdict ultimately came up for consideration before the High Court in CRP No. 1927 of 1992 when the High Court ordered eviction under both grounds and granted further one month's time to Respondent Nos. 1 and 3 to deposit the arrears of rent with the Rent Controller. After re -construction of the building, Respondent Nos. 1 and 3 filed execution petition claiming that they were entitled to get allotment of the newly constructed building pursuant to the order passed under Section 11(4)(iv) of the Act. It was opposed by the Appellant contending that as the arrears of rent was not deposited by Respondent Nos. 1 and 3 within time and the order under Section 11(2)(b) had not been vacated, the tenant was not entitled to exercise the above option. Accepting the contention of the Appellant, the executing Court dismissed the execution petition. However, on an application filed by Respondent Nos. 1 and 3 before the District Court, Thiruvananthapuram accepting the contentions of Respondent Nos. 1 and 3, the order of eviction was vacated upon deposit of the arrears of rent within time. The High Court by impugned order took note of the manner in which the amount was deposited by the Respondent Nos. 1 and 3 and the time consumed by them. Such fact was recorded as at paragraph 5 which reads as under: The Rent Control Court, while granting the order of eviction under Section 11(2)(b) of the Act, made it clear that the said order would stand vacated upon deposit of arrears of rent and interest (emphasis added). The Rent Control Court fixed a time limit of one month to make the deposit. The Appellate Court granted a further period of two months from the date of its order. This Court granted another period of one month from 25/05/2001 which is the date of the judgment in CRP No. 1927/1992. The period of thirty days granted by this Court expired on 24/06/2001. The calendar of the relevant year reveals the 24/06/2001 was a Sunday. Hence as rightly held by the learned Additional District Judge, who heard the RCRR Section 4 of the Limitation Act and Section 10 of the General Clauses Act would come to the rescue of the respondents and accordingly, the last day by which the deposit had to be made was 25/06/2001. The respondents filed challan application on 25/06/2001 for remitting a sum of Rs. 16,422/ - as arrears of rent. The said application was allowed on 27/06/2001 and on that day itself, the amount was remitted in the treasury. The challan receipts as well as the memo showing the remittance were produced before the Court on 27/06/2001 itself. These are admitted facts.
(3.) IN view of the said statement made and the aforesaid Act, the High Court dismissed the petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India and refused to exercise its jurisdictional power.;