J.N. Takru, J. - (1.) THIS application in revision by J. Hay and after his death the Administrator General, UP, is directed against the order of the learned Civil Judge Mussoorie, dated 20 -3 -1958, dismissing his application Under Section 7 -B of the UP (Temporary) Control of Rent and Eviction Act - -hereinafter called the Act,
(2.) IT appears that the late J. Hay filed an application Under Section 7 -B of the Act against S.L. Thakral - -who also died during the pendency of this revision and was substituted by his heirs and legal representatives - -alleging that S.L. Thakral was the tenant of his house known as Wisteria, Estate, in Mussoorie under an allotment order of the District Magistrate, but as he was in arrears of rent for more than three months he had rendered himself liable to ejectment from the said house. This application was filed in the court of the Civil Judge, Mussoorie. A preliminary objection was taken on behalf of S.L. Thakral that as Under Section 7 -B, only the Munsif, having territorial jurisdiction in respect of the accommodation in question, had jurisdiction to entertain that kind of application, the learned Civil Judge had no jurisdiction to do so. The objection found favour with the learned Civil Judge. He therefore dismissed the application summarily, thus giving rise to the present revision. On behalf of the Applicant it was conceded that at the time the aforesaid application and the impugned order were made and even now, there is no court known as the Court of Munsif in Mussoorie, but he contended that in places where there is no court of Munsif by name the jurisdiction conferred on the Munsif Under Section 7 -B was exercisable by the lowest court having territorial jurisdiction there and as, in the instant case, the court of the Civil Judge Mussoorie was and still is the lowest court having territorial jurisdiction in Mussoorie, the learned Civil Judge failed to exercise the jurisdiction vested in him by law by rejecting the application in limine. After hearing the Learned Counsel for the parties, I am satisfied that this contention is well -founded. Now Section 7 -B provides that: When any tenant who is in occupation of an accommodation in pursuance of an order made under the provisions of Sub -section (2) of Section 7 is in arrears of rent or any instalment thereof (when it is payable by instalment) for more than three months the landlord may make an application to the Munsif having territorial jurisdiction for an order of ejectment of the tenant from the accommodation. Thus according to this section the jurisdiction to entertain applications thereunder is conferred upon the Munsif having territorial jurisdiction. It is not disputed that until 2 -11 -1963, i.e. the date on which this Court by Notification No. 33/VIII -b -8, dated 2 -3 -1963, published in the UP Gazette Part II of date, declared the Civil Judge Dehra Dun as Munsif in charge of the sub -division of Mussoorie, the Civil Judge having jurisdiction over Mussoorie was empowered to try all original suits falling within the jurisdiction of Munsif in the sub -division of Mussoorie Under Section 18 of the Bengal Agra and Assam Civil Courts Act, 1887. Hence the short question which falls for determination is whether before the coming into effect of the notification referred to above, there can be held to have been a court of Munsif having territorial jurisdiction in the Mussoorie sub -division. At one time there was some controversy as to whether the Munsif Under Section 7 -B was a court or a persona designata, but since the Full Bench decision of this Court in Chatur Mohan and Ors. v. Ram Behari Dixit : AIR 1964 All 562 (FB): 1964 AWR 141, he must be held to exercise his powers under that section as a court. Now if the Munsif exercises the powers Under Section 7 -B as a court then I see nothing in the Act or principle why, when those powers are exercised by another court, which besides its own ordinary jurisdiction also has Under Section 18 of the UP Bengal, Agra and Assam Civil Courts Act, 1887, the jurisdiction to take cognizance of original suits falling within the territorial jurisdiction of the Munsif, that court should not also be regarded as the court of the Munsif for that territory. The fact that the said court is described as the court of Civil Judge is only a matter of nomenclation and propriety, it does not make any difference to the legal position that it is also a court of the Munsif having territorial jurisdiction in the area concerned. Looked at that way, the court of the Civil Judge Mussoorie, which also exercised the jurisdiction of a Munsif in the subdivision of Mussoorie at the time when the application Under Section 7 -B and the order thereon were made, was also the court of the Munsif having territorial jurisdiction in that sub -division for purposes of Section 7 -B of the Act.
(3.) I am, therefore, satisfied that the view taken by the learned Civil Judge cannot be upheld. I accordingly set aside his order and allow this revision and remand the case to the Court concerned for disposal of the application Under Section 7 -B on merits. Costs here and hitherto, shall abide' the result of that application.;