Rakesh Kumar Jain, J. - (1.) THIS revision petition is directed against the order of the learned Rent Controller, Hoshiarpur, dated 11.5.2010, by which an application filed by the Petitioner under Section 18A in response to the petition filed under Section 13B of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (for short, 'the Act') has been declined.
(2.) THE application of the Petitioner has been declined, inter -alia, on the ground that the landlady fulfills all the conditions enshrined in Section 13B of the Act and she is the owner of the property in dispute for the last more than five years. The applicants/tenants have admitted that they are permanently settled in Bahrain and as such they fall within the definition of 'Non Resident Indian'. The learned Courts below have also observed that notice of the application was served upon the Petitioner for 3.7.2009, pursuant to which they appeared on 16.7.2009, but application for seeking leave to defend was filed on 03.8.2009 i.e. after a lapse of 15 days from the date of appearance. Thus, the learned Rent Controller dismissed the application on the ground that it was barred by time by taking into consideration various decisions of this Court rendered in Om Parkash v. Ashwani Kumar Bassi, 2008 (3) R.C.R. 214; Vijay Kunar v. Surinder Tamna, 2007 (1) R.C.R. 648 and Rajpal v. Gurdev Singh, 2007 (4) RCR 161.
(3.) LEARNED Counsel for the Petitioner submits that the Petitioner is an old lady, who has no other accommodation to run her business. Learned Counsel also submits that the learned Rent Controller has erred in dismissing the application on the ground of delay.;