J. H. Bhatia, J. - (1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. By consent of parties the revision application is taken up for final hearing immediately.
(2.) The respondents, who claim to be the landlords of the suit premises, filed the suit before the Small Causes Court for eviction and possession. That suit was dismissed. The plaintiffs preferred an appeal against the said dismissal of the suit. Said appeal was allowed by the Appellate Bench of the Small Causes Court and the decree for eviction and possession was passed. The said judgment and decree are challenged by the original defendant in the present revision application.
(3.) To appreciate rival contentions of the parties, it will be useful to state the facts in brief. The property in dispute is a piece of land admeasuring 1310 sq. yards, situated in Scheme No. 58 of Worli Estate, within the Municipal Corporation of city of Bombay. The said piece of land with structure thereon was leased out by Mrs. Goolbanoo Merwan Irani, Mr. Farouk Merwan Irani & Mrs. Armaity Jamshed Taraporewalla by an indenture dated 4 th March, 1966 for a period of ten years with effect from 1-5-1965 with liberty to the lessees to renew the same for three term on same terms and conditions. The lessees Caltex (India) Ltd. exercised the right of renewal and accordingly by an indenture dated 5 th April, 1976, the lease was extended by further period of 10 years with an option of renewal of two terms more. By virtue of M/s. Caltex [Acquisition of Shares of Caltex Oil Refining (India) Ltd., Ordinance of 1976 Caltex (India) Limited was nationalized and the said undertaking was taken over by the Government of India. An ordinance was later on passed into an Act as Act No. 17 of 1977 and all the property, rights and interest of said Caltex (India) Ltd. were acquired by the Government of India. As per proviso to Section 9 of the said Act the Central Government vested the said undertaking of the Caltex (India) Ltd in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., a government company, and thus, the defendant who is present applicant became the lessee over the suit premises. On 21 st January 1985 the defendant Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. addressed a letter to plaintiff/respondent No. 1 for renewal of the lease for further ten years from the date of expiry of lease tenure on 30-4-1985. According to the defendant, by letter dated 31 st January 1995 the defendant again exercised an option for renewal of lease for further term of ten years on expiry of the tenure on 30-4-1995. On 26 th July, 2004 on behalf of plaintiff, notice was issued to the defendant terminating the lease agreement and the defendant was called upon to hand over the vacant possession of the suit premises by the end of the next month i.e. August, 2004. On 25 th October 2004 a suit for eviction and possession was filed by the plaintiffs against the defendant.;