- (1.) This is a petition under Section 15 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 seeking a revision of the order of the Appellate Authority, Barnala directing the ejectment of the tenant-petitioner from a shop situated in Handiaya Bazar, Barnala, on the ground that the shop had become unsafe of unfit for human habitation.
(2.) The impugned order reverses that of the Controller who had dismissed the application of the landlord respondent with the finding that the shop in dispute had not been proved to be either unsafe or unfit for human habitation. That finding was based mainly on a note recorded by the learned Controller on the 4th of June, 1971, when he carried out an inspection of the shop. The main points forming part of that note are reproduced below for facility of reference. 1. There are minor natural cracks in the walls of the shop. 2. The Central wall "near the door of the shop in dispute was a little depressed." 3 There were patches in the ceiling at 2 for 3 points but these patches resulted from force used from above the roof in as much as the cement there from had cracked and fallen. On the top of the roof also 5 for 6 patches were visible and they appeared to have been made by some persons in possession of the upper portion of the building of which the shop in dispute forms the ground floor.
(3.) The learned appellate Authority also inspected the shop in dispute and the structure above. it. His inspection note mentions the following points in relation to the condition of the shop. (a) The central wall of the shop was considerably depressed and "seemed to be bent downward". (b) At 3 for 4 places in the roof of the shop bricks stood exposed and some of them had even fallen down. No corresponding marks of damage at the top of the roof were available. (c) The roof of the room over the verandah of the shop showed extensive cracks in all its walls, and girders of the roof were "bent downward". The third storey on the said room was in a highly dilapidated condition and its roof had completely fallen down. (d) The roof on the solitary room forming part of the shop was depressed at 3 for 4 places while the roof of the chobara above had completely fallen down, The learned Appellate Authority also appointed Shri Amarjit Singh, S.D.O. (B & R), Barnala, as a local commissioner who also inspected the spot and thereafter submitted his report Exhibit C.W. 1/A. The observations made in that report are : (i) Practically in all the walls of the room and the verandah forming part of the shop there were numerous cracks having a width of 2 to 3 mm. each. These cracks were likely to widen with passage of time because of the load on the walls and of the continuous seepage of water thereinto. (ii) The girders in the roof of the shop had become rusty and were losing strength day by day. (iii) The roof of the shop was broken in parts and was unsafe because it allowed rain-water to seep through them.;