M.N.SHUKLA,J. - (1.) A suit for ejectment and arrears of rent was filed by the plaintiff-respondent No. 3 against the petitioner which was decreed by the trial Court and the decree was affirmed in revision. Aggrieved by those orders the petitioner-tenant has filed this writ petition.
(2.) THE suit was brought on the allegations that the plaintiff was the owner of the shop in dispute which was constructed in December, 1966, and in respect which the first assessment was made by the Nagar Palika, Etah in October, 1970. The defendant was in arrears of rent at the rate of Rs. 30/- per month and was liable to ejectment. The plaint case too was that the building had been contemplated in the eye of law in October, 1970 and consequently the provisions of the U.P. Act No. 13 of 1972 were not applicable. In these circumstances the plaintiff filed the suit merely after giving notice to defendant. The petitioner contested the suit and pleaded that the construction of the shop was completed prior to the year 1960-61 and the plaintiff had no right to bring the suit under the Transfer of Property Act inasmuch as the provisions of the U.P. Act No. 13 of 1972 were attracted to the facts of the case. The sole question that arose for determination, therefore, was whether U.P. Act No. 13 of 1972 was applicable in respect of the shop in suit or not.
(3.) SUB -section (2) of Section 2 of the aforesaid Act provides : "2(2). Except as provided in sub-section (5) of Section 12, sub-section (1-A) of Section 21, sub-section (2) of Section 24, Sections 24-A, 24-B, 24-C or sub-section (3) of Section 29 nothing in this Act shall apply to a building during a period of ten years from the date on which its construction is completed : Explanation I. - For the purposes of this sub-section :- (a) the construction of a building shall be deemed to have been completed on the date on which the completion thereof is reported to or otherwise recorded by the local authority having jurisdiction and in the case of a building subject to assessment, the date on which the first assessment thereof comes into effect, and where the said dates are different, the earliest of the said dates, and in the absence of any such report, record or assessment, the date on which it is actually occupied (not including occupation merely for the purposes of supervising the construction or guarding the building under construction) for the first time.....". ;