SANGEETA CHANDRA,J. - (1.) I have heard Mr. Ashish Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners-tenant and Mr. Pankaj Agarwal, learned counsel for the respondent landlord.
(2.) Mr Ashish Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners-tenants has submitted that Laxman Das Arora was the tenant running a Book Depot in the Name and Style of M/s Cambrige Book Depot from the shop in question situated at Saharanpur. He was tenant of one Manmohan Das Jain and he had been allotted the said shop under the Rent Control Act. Manmohan Das Jain had filed an application for declaration of vacancy on the ground that Laxman Das Arora was not doing any business in the shop in question, but had passed on the possession of the shop to an unauthorised person, namely, Chandra Prakash Arora. The application for vacancy was allowed, but Laxman Das Arora filed a Writ Petition before this Court, wherein he was held to be the Karta of Hindu undivided family and the tenant of the shop in question run under the Name and Style of M/s Cambrige Book Depot. After the disposal of this writ petition by this Court on 01.07.1980, Laxman Das Arora continued to run the shop in question and Chandra Prakash Arora was his brother. Laxman Das Arora shifted his family to Mussourie was was running his business at Mussourie at Mall Road under the same Name of M/s Cambrige Book Depot. The brother Chandra Prakash Arora continued as tenant of Trilok Chandra Jain and Manmohan Das Jain. Manmohan Das Jain transferred the ownership of the property in question on 31.03.1992 in favour of M/s Khurana Estate Agencies Pvt. Ltd. having its registered office at New Delhi. M/s Khurana Estate Agencies Pvt. Ltd. the respondent No. 3 herein launched proceedings for vacation of the property in question by filing application under section 21(1) (b) of U.P. Act No. 13 of 1972, which was registered as P.A. Case No. 77 of 1996. In this application the ground taken was that the building in question in a very bad and dilapidated condition and needed to be reconstructed after demolition. In 1999 however, an application under section 21(1)(a) of U.P. Act No. 13 of 1972 was filed, wherein respondent No. 3 showed bona fide need to establish an office in the building concerned after its reconstruction on the ground that he was running an office in a rented accommodation at the rate of Rs. 2000/- per month in the said city of Saharanpur. M/s Cambrige Book Depot was arrayed as defendant No. 1, Satpal Singh Chhabara was arrayed as defendant No. 2, Chandra Prakash Arora was arrayed as defendant No. 3 and Laxman Das Arora was arrayed as defendant No. 4. It was mentioned in the Release Application that after Laxman Das Arora shifted his business to Mussourie, a partnership firm was created by Chandra Prakash Arora along with Satpal Singh Chhabara and the Rent Control and Eviction Officer allotted the premises in question in favour of partnership firm thereafter under the Act. In 1996, the said partnership was dissolved and the right to the property in question regarding tenancy devolved upon Satpal Singh Chhabara alone.
(3.) In the written submission filed by Satpal Singh Chhabara, defendant No. 2, he virtually admitted the contents of the Release Application filed by the landlord. Chandra Prakash Arora, the defendant No. 3 however contested the matter on merits and stated that the Partnership Deed alleged to have been signed between him and Satpal Singh Chhabara, was a forged document and its alleged dissolution was also false and fabricated story and that Chandra Prakash Arora being the brother of Laxman Das Arora, the tenant of the property in question, he was carrying on the family business in the shop in question.;