Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, J. - (1.) THIS revision petition is directed against the order of the Appellate Authority, whereby relying upon the interpretation of Section 4 of Haryana Urban (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as, 'the Act') enunciated in Yoginder Mohan v. Krishan Lal : (1998 -1) 118 P.L.R. 114 Appellate Authority had modified the rent determined by Rent Controller, Ambala Cantt.
(2.) PETITIONER -landlord had preferred a petition under Section 4 and 5 of the Act for revision of fair rent. Section 4 and 5 of the Act read as under: 4. Determination of fair rent. - (1) The Controller shall on an application by the tenant or the landlord of a building or rented land, fix the fair rent for such building or rented land after holding such enquiry, as he may think fit. Such fair rent shall be operative from the date, of application. (2) In fixing the fair rent under this section the Controller shall first determine the basic rent which shall be: (a) In respect of the building the construction whereof was completed on or before the 31st day of December, 1961, or land let out before, the said date, the rent prevailing in the locality for similar building or rented land let out to a new tenant during the year 1962; and (b) In respect of the building the construction whereof is completed after the 31st day of December, 1961 or land let out after the said date the rent agreed upon between the landlord and the tenant preceding the date of the application, or where no rent has been agreed upon, the basic rent shall be determined on the basis of the rent prevailing in the locality for similar building or rented land at the date of application. (3) In fixing the fair rent, the Controller may allow an increase, or decrease on the basic rent determined under Sub -section (2), not exceeding twenty five per centum of the rise or fall in the general level of prices since the date of agreed rent or the date of application, as the case may be, in accordance with the average of All India Wholesale Price Index Numbers as determined by the Government of India, for the calendar year immediately the date of application). (4) Notwithstanding that the fair rent for building or rented land has been under the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (hereinafter referred to as the 1949 (Act) a landlord or tenant of such building or rented land shall be entitled to get its fair rent fixed under this section. (5) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Controller may fix the fair rent on the basis of the compromise arrived at between the parties to the proceedings. Such rent shall be binding only between the parties and their heirs. 5. Revision in fair rent in certain cases. - When the fair rent of a building or rented land has been fixed under Section 4, no further increase or decrease in such fair rent shall be permissible for a period of five years: Provided that an increase may be allowed in case where any addition, improvement or alteration has been carried out at the expense of the landlord, and in the building or rented land which is in occupation of the tenant then at the request of the tenant. (2) Any dispute between the landlord and the tenant in regard to any" increase or decrease under this Section shall be decided by the Controller. Rent Controller determined the rent to be Rs. 476.27 per month. Aggrieved against the same, tenants -respondents to the rent petition, filed an appeal, which was accepted and the rent was modified by the Appellate Authority. Aggrieved against the same, landlord had filed the present revision petition.
(3.) UNDISPUTEDLY , petitioner is owner and landlord of northern portion of Shop No. 5571 located at Saudagar Bazar, Ambala Cantt. Shripal Jain was tenant of the Shop and used to pay Rs. 300/ - as rent alongwith house tax @ 12.5 percent. Shripal Jain left for heavenly abode on 24th October, 2001 leaving behind his legal representatives, who became joint tenants of the shop on the same terms and conditions. Section 4 was interpreted by a Division Bench of this Court in Gela Ram v. Sat Pal Sharma, (1988) 93 P.L.R. 35. The observation made in Gela Ram's case were considered by another Division Bench of this Court in Yoginder Mohan's case (supra). Principles of calculation of fair rent and considering earlier law on point, it was held in Yoginder Mohan's case (supra) as under: In our view the Controller would have to take the basic or agreed rent as the basis for determining the fair rent payable on an application under rise or fall in the general level of the prices for the dates indicated in section. For determining the percentage of increase he would have to refer to the All India Whole Sale Price Index Numbers, as determined by the Government of India for the calendar year immediately preceding the date of application. Thereupon, the Controller would have to proceed to find out the percentage indicated by the rise or fall in relation to the basic or agreed rent payable by the tenant to the landlord thus he would increase the basic or agreed rent by relying on such portion of the Price Index in the above manner to arrive at a final figure of ti »ir rent to be paid as rent. In order to ostracize the possibility of any confusion persisting any further, we would demonstrate the application of the above principle in terms of the figure applicable to the present case. Fair rent fixed by the Court vide dated 30.11.1985 Rs. 621.40 Date on which the present application was filed for increase in fair rent 13.1.1995 Agreed or basic rent for the purpose of present petition. Rs. 621.40 Figure of whole sale price index for the year 1984, as reflected in the Rs. 604.50 Price Index determined by the Govt, of India. Figure of Price Index as indicated for the year 1994 (immediately Rs. 1409.59 preceding the year of presentation of petition/application i.e. 1995). Increase in Price Index (1409 -50 -604.5) Rs. 805.09 Percentage of difference between two figures of Price Index Numbers 133.18% The Court can grant increase or decrease to the maximum 25% under Section 4(3) i.e. 25% the percentage of difference between two figures of Price Index Numbers which come to 33.29% On this basis the increase in fair rent comes to (621.40 x 33.29)/100 206.86 Therefore, the basic rent would be liable to be increased by a sum of Rs. 206.86. Thus the Court ought to have fixed the fair rent at Rs.828.26 (Rs.621.40 + 206.86).;