- (1.) This rule is obtained by Gainda Ram against the Assistant Custodian, the Punjab State and Hari Chand for quashing an order made by the Assistant Custodian cum District Rent Officer, Ambala, dated the 11th December, 1954 cancelling the lease made in favour of the petitioner.
(2.) The property in dispute in house No. 117-E situate at Jagadhari. According to the affidavit which has been filed by Gainda Ram the house belonged to Abdulla Ghosi who has since become an evacuee and was given on lease to the petitioner sometime in January 1947. A notice was issued to the petitioner to show cause as to why the lease which had been confirmed by the Custodian be not set aside on the ground that the petitioner is an owner of a shop and a house at Jagadhari. The Assistant Custodian has set aside the lease in favour of the petitioner on the ground that there are instructions from the Department that an allottee cannot retain evacuee property if he owns residential and commercial property in the same town. The efficacy of these instructions. Mr. Anand Mohan Suri submits, is supported by Rule 14(5) of the Administration of Evacuee Property (Central) Rules made under the Administration of Evacuee Property Act which provides - "14(5) Nothing in this rule shall be deemed to abridge or limit the power of the Custodian to cancel or vary the terms of a lease relating to evacuee property, or to evict a lessee of such property, wherehe is of the opinion that, for reasons to be recorded in writing, it is necessary or expedient to do so for the preservation or the proper administration or the management of such property or for carrying out any other object of the Act."
(3.) Thus, this rule provides that there is no limit to the powers of the Custodian to cancel a lease where it is necessary or expedient to do so for the preservation or the proper administration or the management of that property or for carrying out any other object of the Act. The petitioner before me relies on the amended Section 12(1) of the Administration of Evacuee Property Act which when quoted runs as under :- "12. Power to vary or cancel leases or allotments of evacuee property - (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the Custodian may cancel any allotment or terminate any lease or amends the terms of any lease or agreement under which any evacuee property is held or occupied by a person, whether such allotment, lease or agreement was granted or entered into before or after the commencement of this Act - Provided that in the case of any lease granted before the 14th day of August, 1947 the Custodian shall not exercise any of the powers conferred upon him under this sub-section unless he is satisfied that the lessee :- (a) has sublet, assigned or otherwise parted with the possession of the whole or any part of the property leased to him, or (b) has used or is using such property for a purpose other than that for which it was leased to him.";