- (1.) The petitioner seeks to challenge an order passed in an appeal arising under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971. In the petition filed before the Estate Officer, the case of the Board of Trustees for the Port of Kolkata (KoPT) was that the petitioner herein was granted a lease of ten years in respect of a property in the once important business area of Shibpur, Howrah at a monthly rental of Rs. 9552/- from February 21, 1990. It was the further case of KoPT that the petitioner herein failed to pay the monthly rents. The schedule to the petition indicated the period of arrears covering the entire tenure of the lease.
(2.) KoPT claimed that by a letter of February 18, 2003 it determined the lease and required the petitioner herein to vacate the premises. The proceedings under the 1971 Act were instituted in March, 2003. The notice under section 4 of the 1971 Act was issued on May 3, 2006.
(3.) In the written statement filed by the petitioner herein, the petitioner clearly asserted that no notice of determination of the tenancy had been issued to or received by the petitioner. In addition, the petitioner herein claimed that "at the initial stage the opposite party was a lessee under the petitioner for a period of ten years but after expiry of the said lease period of ten years, the opposite party became a monthly tenant under the petitioner by the subsequent acts of the petition (sic, petitioner).";