ivil Appeal No 1314 of 1980
From the Judgment and Order dated 2891978 of the Madras High Court in Civil Revision Petition No 782 of 1977
ATM Sampath for the Appellant
section Padmanabhan and M Raghuraman for the Respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by NATARAJAN J
This appeal by special leave is by a tenant against whom an order of eviction passed under Sec tion 103c of the Tamil Nadu Buildings Lease and Rent Control Act 1960 hereinafter referred to as the Act by the Rent Controller was restored by the High Court of Madras after setting aside the dismissal of the eviction petition by the Appellate Authority
The facts are not in controversy and may briefly be set out as under
A one storeyed building in Wall Tax Road Madras was originally owned by one Unnamalai Ammal
She was using the first floor for her residence and had leased out the ground floor to the appellant herein to be used as a godown for storing his business ware
It is common ground the appellant s shop is situate in an adjoining building
The tease was for a period of 10 years with an option for renewal for a further period of 5 years
Unnamalai Ammal however refused to renew the lease and filed a suit against the appellant for eviction on the ground she bona fide
required the ground floor also for her residential use
The suit did not meet with success
Unnamalai Ammal bequeathed the property to her son in law and grand son who are the respondents herein
As legatees of the premises the respond ents filed a petition under Section 103c of the Act praying for eviction of the appellant on the ground they bona fide required additional accommodation for their resi dential needs
The Rent Controller upheld their claim after finding the relevant factors of bona fide need and com 1178 parative hardship in their favour and ordered eviction
On appeal by the appellant the Appellant Authority reversed the findings of the Rent Controller and further held that the respondent were not entitled to recover possession of non residential premises for their residential requirements and dismissed the petition for eviction
On further revision to the High Court by the respondents Remaprasada Rao CJ set aside the order of the Appellant Authority and resorted the order of eviction passed by the Rent Controller
The aggrieved tenant has preferred this appeal
The judgment under appeal is assailed by the appellant on four grounds viz 1 Since the ground floor constitutes a building by itself within the meaning of Section 22 of the Act the respondents can seek eviction of the appellant only under Section 103ai of the Act and not under Section 103c 2 Even if the respondents are entitled to invoke Section 103c they can seek eviction only if they require the ground floor for non residential purposes and not for residential purposes 3 In any event the factors of relative hardship be tween the parties weigh more in favour of the appellant than the respondent and 4 The High Court was in error in interfering with the findings of fact rendered by the Appellate Authority while exercising its revisional powers under Section 25 of the Act
Before proceeding to examine the merits of the conten tions it will be relevant to state a few facts
The ground floor though used as a godown is of a residential pattern and consists of two rooms and a hall besides a kitchen and toilet rooms
The first floor is being used as their resi dence by the respondents the other members of the family being the wife and daughter of the second respondent
The first floor consists of only two rooms and it is the case of the respondents that the accommodation in the first floor has become inadequate for their growing residential needs
It is also their case that the first respondent who is over 65 years of age finds it difficult to climb the stairs on account of his old age and frail health
Their further plea is that the water supply to the first floor is inadequate in spite of the electric motor and pump set installed in the ground floor to pump up water
In contrast the appellant is said to have a spacious three storeyed building in Door No 39 adjoining the leased premises and also to have another godown close by
1179 One of the contentions of the appellant was that the eviction proceedings were a continuation of the unsuccessful attempt by Unnamalai Ammal herself to get the tenant evicted and therefore the eviction petition lacked bona fides
The High Court has rejected his contention and in our opinion rightly too because the respondents who are the legatees of the building cannot be attributed mala fides because of the earlier eviction suit filed by their predecessor in title
We may also dispose of another contention of the appellant at this juncture itself which had found favour with the Appellate Authority
The contention was that with the death of Unnamalai Ammal the family had become smaller and hence there was no need for additional accommodation
This argu ment overlooks the fact that additional accommodation is sought for because of the difficulty experienced by the first respondent in climbing the stairs in his old age and the need for the second respondent s daughter growing in years to have a room all for herself for keeping her books and reading at home
We will now proceed to consider the legal contentions of the appellant in seriatim
The first and foremost contention was that under the Act the ground floor constitutes a sepa rate building and as such the respondents can seek recovery of possession of the ground floor only under Section 103ai and not under Section 103c
For dealing with this contention the relevant provisions of the Act need setting out
Section 2 which is the definition Section reads as under Definitions In this Act unless the context otherwise requires 2 building means any building or hut or part of a building or hut let or to be let separately for residential or non residen tial purpose and includes a   b  
Section 10 sets out the grounds on which the eviction of a tenant can be ordered
For our purpose it is enough to refer to the following provisions alone Section 103a A landlord may subject to the 1180 provisions of clause d apply to the Con troller for an order directing the tenant to put the landlord in possession of the build ing i in case it is a residential building if the landlord requires it for his own occupation or for the occupation of any member of his family and if he or any member of his family is not occupying a residential building of his own in the city town or village concerned ii ommitted iii in case it is any other non residential building if the landlord or any member of his family is not occupying for purposes of a business which he or any member of his family is carrying on non residential building in the city town or village concerned which is his own b ommitted
c A landlord who is occupying only a part of a building whether residential or non resi dential may notwithstanding anything con tained in clause a apply to the Controller for an order directing any tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining part of the building to put the landlord in posses sion thereof it he requires additional accom modation for residential purposes or for purposes of a business which he is carrying on as the case may be
Provided that in the case of an application under clause c the Controller shall reject the application if he is satisfied that the hardship which may be caused to the tenant by granting it will outweigh the advantage to the landlord Provided further that the Controller may give the tenant a reasonable time for putting the landlord in possession of the building and may extend such time so as not to exceed three months in the aggregate
 It is no doubt true that under Section 22 a building has been
defined as not building or hut but also part of a building or hut let separately for residential or non resi dential purpose
That would however only mean that a part of a building which has been let out or which is to be let out separately can also be construed as a separate and 1181 independent building without reference to the other portion or portions of the building where it is not necessary to treat the entire building as one Whole and inseparable unit
A limitation on the definition has been placed by the Legis lature itself by providing that the application of the definition is subject to the contextual position
Therefore it follows that where the context warrants the entire build ing being construed as one integral unit it would be inap propriate to view the building as consisting of several disintegerated units and not as one integerated structure
Secondly there is vast difference between the words resi dential building and non residential building used in Section 103ai and iii on the one hand and Section 103c on the other
While Section 103ai and iii refer to a building only as residential or non residential Section 103c refers to a landlord occupying a pan of a building whether residential or non residential
Emphasis supplied
Further more Section 103c states that a landlord may apply to the Controller for an order of evic tion being passed against the tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining pan of the building Emphasis supplied
If as contended by the appellant each portion of a building let out separately should always be construed as an independent unit by itself then there is no scope for a landlord occupying a part of a building seeking eviction of a tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining part of the building
It is therefore obvious that in so far as Section 103c is concerned the Legisla ture has intended that the entire building irrespective of one portion being occupied by the landlord and the other portion or portions being occupied by a tenant or tenants should be viewed as one whole and integrated unit and not as different entities
To import the expansive definition of the word building in Section 22 into section 103c would result in rendering meaningless the words part of a building occupied by the landlord and a tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining part of the build ing
The third factor militating against the contention of the appellant is that if a portion of a building let out to a tenant is to be treated in all situations as a separate and independent building then Section 103c will be rendered otiose because the landlord can never then ask for additional accommodation since Section 103a does not provide for eviction of tenants on the ground of additional accommodation for the landlord either for residential or non residential purposes
It is a well settled rule of interpretation of statutes that the provisions of the Act should be interpreted in such a manner as not to render any of its provisions otiose unless there are compelling reasons for the Court to resort to that extreme contingency
1182 Yet another noteworthy feature to be borne in mind is that Section 103c is governed by two provisos which is not the case when eviction orders are made under any of the sub clauses of Section 103a
The first proviso enjoins the Controller to reject the application of a landlord under Section
103c for additional accommodation even where the need of the landlord is found to be genuine if the hardship caused to the tenant by an order of eviction will outweigh the advantage to the landlord by the said order
The second proviso empowers the Controller to give the tenant a reasonable time not exceeding three months in the aggregate to vacate the portion in his occupation and put the landlord in possession thereof
Obviously the second proviso has been made to facilitate the tenant to find alternate residential or non residential accommodation elsewhere since the landlord who is already in possession of a portion of the building can put up with the hardship of inadequate accommodation for a period of three months at the most
The above analytical consideration of the relevant provisions bring out clearly the fallacy contained in and the untenability of the contention that the ground floor occupied by the appellant is a distinct and separate unit and as such the respondents cannot seek his eviction under Section 103c of the Act
This aspect of the matter has been considered in varying degrees in the following decisions and interpreted in ac cordance with our conclusion vide Saraswathi Sriraman vs
PCR Chetty s Charities  Mohammed Jarfar vs Palaniappa Chettiar and Chellammal vs Accommodation Controller Even the Division Bench ruling relied on by Mr Sampath concedes this position and has observed as follows Therefore if the context in a particular provision requires that the word building should not be understood as defined in Section 22 certainly it is open to the Court to give the normal natural and ordinary meaning which it is capable of and for that purpose it is not necessary to rely upon any decision
vide page 153 of the report
 Taking up now for consideration the second contention there were conflicting decisions in the Madras High Court and this led to a reference of the case in Thirupathi vs Kanta Rao 1981 Vol
1 ILR Madras 128 to a Division Bench
While the Division Bench has taken one view
a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court has 1183 taken a contrary view on the identical issue
It is perti nent to state here that the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Buildings Lease Rent and Eviction Control Act are in pari tnetria with the provisions of the Madras Act in so far as Sections 103a and c are concerned
The conflict was with reference to the interpretation of Section 103c viz whether a landlord occupying a part of a building for residential purposes is entitled to seek eviction of a tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining part of the building for non residential purposes for his landlord s residential use and vice versa
While it was held in Govindan vs Rajagopal Nadar that a landlord can seek eviction of a tenant under Section 103c for additional residential purposes only if the tenant also is putting the building to residential use and likewise a landlord can seek additional accommodation for business purposes only if the tenant is also putting the building to non residential use it was held to the contrary in Premchand Motichand vs Hatneed Sultan  PI Kurian vs Government of Tamil Nadu 85 LW 364 and Saraswathi Sriraman vs PCR Chetty s Charities supra
The latter view was taken by Ismail J also as he then was in an unreported case viz Rangaswami Reddiar vs Minor N Jayaraj CRP No 2380 of 1977
Subsequently in the referred case the Division Bench consisting of Ismail CJ and Rathnam J rendered judgment in Thirupathi vs Kanta Rao supra
Ismail CJ changing his earlier view holding that a landlord will be entitled under Section 103c to seek additional accommodation for residential purposes only if it is a residential building in the occupa tion Of a tenant and likewise a landlord can seek additional accommodation for non residential purposes only if the building is a non residential one
The Division Bench has further taken the view that the non obstante clause is only to entitle a landlord to seek eviction even when he is in possession of a portion of a building belonging to him and nothing more
In a later decision GN Rajaram vs Mukunthu N Venkata rama Iyer
MLJ 19852 173 the Division Bench ruling has been followed and eviction was ordered of a tenant occupying a room in the ground floor of a residential building for his business purposes
On the other hand a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in K Parasuramaiah vs Lakshmamma AIR 1965 220 has held that if a landlord satisfies the Controller that he wants additional accommodation in the same building for his residential or non residential re quirements then notwithstanding the user to which the tenant was putting the 1184 leased portion
the landord is entitled to an order of eviction so that he can re adjust the additional accommoda tion in the manner convenient to him and it is not necessary that the additional accommodation sought for should be used by the landlord for the same purpose for which the tenant sought to be evicted was using it
In the words of the Division Bench Clause c makes it twice clear that a land lord who occupies a part of a building wheth er residential or nonresidential can ask for eviction of a tenant occupying another portion whatever may be his requirements whether residential or non residential
For holding so the Andhra Pradesh High Court has taken the words notwithstanding anything in clause a as having over riding effect over both the conditions laid down in Section 103a and iii viz a landlord 1 not having a building of his own for residential or nonresidential pur poses and 2 seeking the eviction of a tenant from resi dential premises only for residential purposes and 3 seeking eviction of a tenant from non residential premises only for nonresidential purposes
We will now examine for ourselves the interpretation to be given to Section 103c
In so doing we will first see the legislative intent behind Section 103c before con sidering the thrust given by nonobstante clause in it
Since Section 103c provides for both situations viz a land lord occupying a part of a building which is residential or non residential the sub clause can be read separately so as to have reference exclusively to a residential building or a non residential building
In Thirupathy vs Kanta Rao supra the learned Judges have noticed this position and set out Section 103c distinctively
But in so doing they have restricted the relief of additional accommodation to the landlord for residential purposes to residential build ings alone and the relief of additional accommodation for business purposes to nonresidential buildings alone and therein the error has crept in
In our view
this restric tion is not envisaged by Section 103c
The proper way of distinctively viewing the Section should be as under A landlord who is occupying only a part of a residential building may notwithstanding anything contained in clause a apply to the Controller for an order directing any tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining part of the building to put the landlord in possession 1185 thereof
if he requires additional accommoda tion for residential purposes or for purposes of a business which he is carrying on as the case may be A landlord who is occupying only a part of a non residential building may notwithstanding anything contained in clause a apply to the Controller for an order directing any tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining part of the building to put the landlord in possession thereof if he requires additional accommodation for residential purposes or for purposes of a business which he is carrying on as the case may be
 If clause 3 is construed in this manner there can be no scope for a contention that a landlord cab seek addition al accommodation for residence only if the building is a residential one and likewise he can seek additional accommo dation for business purposes only if the building is a non residential one
There are several reasons which persuade us to take this view
In the first place it has to be noted that Section 103c stands on a different footing from Section 103ai and Section 103aiii
It is not a case of a landlord not occupying a residential or non residential building of his own but a case of a landlord occupying a part of a residential or non residential building of his own and putting it to such user as deemed fit by him
Since the requirement of additional accommodation by the landlord is with reference to the manner of his user of that part of the building which is in his occupation it is the nature of that requirement that should prevail over the manner of user of the tenant of the portion leased out to him
In other words the additional accommodation is for extending the user of the building by the landlord to the leased portion for the same purpose for which the portion not leased out is being put to
Such being the case which the landlord is genuinely in need of additional accommodation for residential or non residential requirements as the case may be he can be given relief only it the tenant occupying the other portion of the building is asked to vacate
If it is to be held that Section 103c can be invoked only if the nature of the requirement of the landlord and the nature of user of the leased portion by the tenant coalesce then the landlord will be left without any remedy when the nature of his need and the nature of the user of the leased portion by the tenant do not tally
Take for example a case where a landlord has got grown up sons and daughters or there is a married son and growing daughters or there 1186 are old parents who cannot climb stairs etc
If the landlord is to be refused additional accommodation for residential purposes merely because the tenant is making use of the leased portion for nonresidential purposes the landlord would be placed in an awful predicament
Similarly
if a landlord bona fide requires additional accommodation for his business and his business would suffer serious detriment if he cannot secure additional accommodation it would cause great hardship and gave injustice to the landlord if he is to be denied accommodation merely because the tenant is making use of the leased portion for residential purposes
It is therefore that the Legislature has provided Section 103c in its present form so that a landlord bona fide requiring additional accommodation is not confronted with a permanently irremediable situation
In its anxiety that Section 103c should fully serve the purpose for which it has been enacted the Legislature has also added the non obstante clause
Having regard to the object of Section 103c and the terms in which it is worded there is war rant and justification for holding that the non obstante clause has been provided to have overriding effect over both the restrictions placed by Section 103ai and iii viz landlord seeking eviction of a tenant should not be occupying a building of his own and secondly the nature of user of the leased property by the tenant must correspond to the nature of the requirement of the landlord
In construing Section 103c it is pertinent to note that the words used are any tenant and not a tenant who can be called upon to vacate the portion in his occupation
The word any has the following meaning Some one out of many an indefinite number
One indiscriminately of whatever kind or quantity
 Word any has a diversity of mean ing and may be employed to indicate all or every as well as some or one and its meaning in a given statute depends upon the context and the subject matter of the statute
It is often synonymous with either every or all
Its generality may be restricted by context Black s Law Dic tionary Fifth Edition
Unless the legislature had intended that both classes of tenants can be asked to vacate by the Rent Controller for providing the
landlord additional accommodation
be it for residential or non residential 1187 purposes
it would not have used the word any instead of using the letter a to denote a tenant
Thirdly it is significant to note that there is no reference in clause c to the nature of the user of the tenant occupying the leased portion of the building viz whether he is using it for residential or nonresidential purposes
If it was the intention of the legislature that only a tenant occupying a residential portion of a building can be asked to vacate for providing additional residential accommodation to the landlord and correspondingly a tenant occupying a portion of a building for non residential pur poses alone being asked to vacate for the nonresidential requirements of the landlord the legislature would have provided specific stipulations to that effect in clause c
On that ground also it must be construed that clause c has been provided
in order to enable a landlord to seek the eviction of any tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining part of the building for residential or non residential purposes for satisfying the additional needs of the landlord irrespective of whether the need is for resi dential or business purposes
The words as the case may be in sub clause c have been construed by the Division Bench of the Madras High Court to mean that they restrict the landlord s right to secure additional accommodation for residential purposes only in respect of a residential building and in the case of additional accommodation for business purpose only to a non residential building
We are of the view that in the context of sub clause c
the words as the case may be would only mean whichever the case may be ie either residential or non residential
To sum up the requirement of additional accommodation pertains to the need of the landlord and the manner of user of the portion of the building already in his occupation and consequently the bona fides of his requirement will outweigh all the restrictions imposed by Section 103a ie nature of the building
nature of user of the leased portion by the tenant etc
Even so the Legislature has taken care to safeguard the interests of the tenant by means of the provi sos to the sub clause
The first proviso enjoins the Con troller to balance the interests of the landlord and the tenant and to refuse eviction if the hardship caused to the tenant will outweight the advantage to the landlord by reason of the evicton
The second proviso empowers the Controller to grant adequate time to the tenant upto a maximum of three months to vacate the building and secure accommodation elsewhere
therefore
follows that once a landlord is able to satisfy the 1188 Controller that he is bona fide in need of additional accom modation for residential or non residential purposes and that the advantage derived by him by an order of eviction will outweigh the hardship caused to the tenant then he is entitled to an order of eviction irrespective of any other consideration
In the light of our conclusion we approve the ratio in K Prasuramaiah vs Lakshmamma supra and disapprove the ratio in Thirupathy vs Kanta Rao
supra
The third and fourth question posed for consideration do not present any difficulty
The Rent Controller has gone into the question of comparative hardship and rendered a finding in favour of the respondents
The High Court has observed that the Appellate Authority
while reversing the order
has failed to take due note of relevant materials placed by the respondents
The High Court has therefore held that the Appellate Authority s findings have been vitiated because of its non advertance to the evidence and the apparent errors noticed in its assessment of the compar ative hardship between the parties
In so far as the High Court interfering with the findings of the Appellate Author ity is concerned the High Court has justified its action by pointing out that Appellate Authority had applied wrong tests and had also failed to give effect to unchallenged findings of the Rent Controller and hence the order of the Appellate Authority suffered from manifest errors in the exercise of its jurisdiction
The High Court was therefore
entitled to allow the revision and consequently the third and fourth contentions also fail
In the result we find no merit in the appeal and accord ingly it will stand dismissed
Mr Sampath learned counsel for the appellant made a request that in the event of the appeal being dismissed the appellant should be given suffi ciently long time to secure another godown and shift his stock of goods to that place
Mr Padmanabhan learned coun sel for the respondents very fairly stated that the respond ents are agreeable to give time to the appellant till 311287 to vacate the leased portion
Accordingly we order that in spite of the dismissal of the appeal the appellant will have time till 311287 to vacate the ground floor premises in his occupation and deliver peaceful and vacant possession to the respondents subject however to the appel lant filing an under taking in the usual terms in this behalf within 4 weeks from today failing which the respond ents will be entitled to recover possession of the building forthwith
The parties will bear their respective costs
PS S Appeal dis missed


Summary:
Clause c of sub section
3 of section 10 of the Tamil Nadu Buildings Lease and Rent Control Act 1960 enables a landlord occupying only a part of a building whether resi dential or non residential to seek eviction of a tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining part of the building notwithstanding anything contained in cl
a for bona fide requirement of additional accommodation
The first proviso thereto enjoins the Rent Controller to reject the application of the landlord under that clause even where the need is found to be genuine if the hardship caused to the tenant would outweigh the advantage to the landlord
Sub clause i of cl
a of section 103 enables eviction from residential building if the landlord or any member of his family is not occupying a residential building of his own in the city while sub cl
iii enable eviction from non residential building if the landlord or any member of his family is not occupying for purposes of a business a non residential building in the city
A building  is defined in section 22 to mean any building or hut or part of a building or hut let or to be let separately for residential or non residential purposes
The respondent legatees of the landlady using the first floor of the building for residence sought eviction of the appellant tenant from the ground floor used by him as a godown for storing his business wares on the ground that they bona fide required additional accommodation 1174 for their residential needs
The Rein Controller upheld their claim
The Appellate Authority reversed the findings of the Rent Controller but in revision the High Court re stored the order of eviction passed by the Rent Controller
In this Appeal by Special leave it was contended that since the ground floor constituted a building by itself within the meaning of section 22 of the Act
the respondents could seek eviction of the appellant only under section 103ai of the Act and not under section 103c that even if the respondents were entitled to invoke section 103c they could seek eviction only if they required the ground floor for non residential purposes and not for residential pur poses that the factors of relative hardship between the parties weighed more in favour of the appellant than the respondents and that the High Court was in error in inter fering with the findings of fact rendered by the Appellate Authority while exercising its revisional powers under section 25 of the Act
Dismissing the Appeal the Court HELD 11 The ground floor of the building in occupation of the appellant did not constitute a distinct and separate unit
The respondent landlords could
therefore seek evic tion under section 103c of the Act
12 A building  has been defined in section 22 of the Act as not only a building or hut but also part of a building or hut let separately for residential or non residential purposes which could only means that a part of a building that has been let out or that has to be let out separately can also be construed as a separate and independent building without reference to the other portion or portions of the building where it is not necessary to treat the entire building as one whole and inseparable unit
A limitation has thereby been placed by the Legislature itself by providing that the application of the definition is subject to the contextual position
It follows therefrom that where the context warrants
the entire building being construed as one integral unit
It would be inappropriate to view the build ing as consisting of several disintegrated units and not as one integrated structure
13 In enacting section 103c the Legislature has intended that the entire building
irrespective of one portion being occupied by the landlord and the other portion or portions being occupied by a tenant or tenants should be viewed as one whole and integrated unit and not as different entities
1175 14 There is vast difference between the words residen tial building and non residential building used in section 103ai and iii on the one hand and section 103c on the other
While section 103ai and iii refer to a building only as residential or non residential section 103c refers to a landlord occupying a part of a building whether resi dential or non residential
Furthermore section 103c states that a landlord may apply to the Controller for an order of eviction being passed against the tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining part of the building
15 TO import the expansive definition of the word building in section 22 into section 103c would result in rendering meaningless the words part of a building occu pied by the landlord and a tenant occupying the whole or any portion of the remaining part of the building leaving no scope for such a landlord to seek eviction
16 The provisions of an Act should be interpreted in such a manner as pot to render any of its provisions otiose unless there are compelling reasons for the Court to resort to the extreme contingency
If a portion of a building let out to a tenant is to be treated in all situations as a separate and independent building then section 103c will be rendered otiose because the landlord can never then ask for additional accommodation since section 103a does not provide for eviction of tenants on the ground of additional accommo dation for the landlord either for residential or non resi dential purposes
Saraswathi Sriraman vs
PCR Chetty s Charities  Mohammed Jaffar vs Palaniappa Chettiar 1964 1 M LJ 112 and Cheilaromal vs Accommodation Controller  approved
21 It cannot be said that a landlord can seek addition al accommodation for residence only if the building is a residential one and likewise he can seek additional accommo dation for business purposes only if the building is a non residential one
22 Section 103c provides for both situations viz a landlord occupying a part of a building which is residen tial or non residential
The words used in it arc any tenant and not a tenant who can be called upon to vacate the portion in his occupation
Unless the legislature had intended that both classes of tenant ie residential or nonresidential can be asked to vacate by the Rent Control ler for providing landlord the additional accommodation it would not have used the 1176 words any instead of using the letter a to denote a tenant
Further the words as the case may be in cl
0 only mean whichever the case may be ie either residen tial or non residential
They do not restrict the landlord s right to secure additional accommodation for residential purposes only in respect of a residential building and in the case of additional accommodation for business purposes only to a non residential building
23 Section 103c stands on a different footing from section 103a i and section 103aiii
The non obstante clause has been added to cl
c to give it an overriding effect over both the restrictions placed by cls
ai and aiii viz landlord seeking eviction of a tenant should not be occupying a building of his own and secondly the nature of user of the leased property by the tenant must correspond to the nature of the requirement of the landlord
Thus the requirement of additional accommodation under cl
c is not a case of a landlord not occupying a residential or non residential building of his own but a case of a landlord occupying a part of a residential or non residen tial building of his own and putting it to such user as deemed fit by him
If it was the intention of the legisla ture that only a tenant occupying a residential portion of a building can be asked to vacate for providing additional residential accommodation to the landlord and corresponding ly a tenant occupying a portion of a building for non resi dential purposes alone being asked to vacate for the non residential requirements of the landlord
it would have provided specific stipulation to that effect in cl
In the instant case
the requirement of additional accommodation pertains to the need of the landlord and the manner of user of the portion of the building already in his occupation and consequently the bona fides of his require ment will outweigh all the restrictions imposed by section 103a
K Parasuramaiah vs Lakshmamma AIR 1965 220
approved
Thirupathi vs Kanta Rao
1981 Vol 1 ILR Madras 128 overruled
Once a landlord is able to satisfy the Controller that he is bona fide in need of additional accommodation for residential or nonresidential purposes and that the advan tage derived by him by an order of eviction will outweigh the hardship caused to the tenant
then he is entitled to an order of eviction irrespective of any other consideration
1177 4
The Rent Controller has gone into the question of comparative hardship and rendered a finding in favour or the respondents
The Appellate Authority s findings have been vitiated because of its non advertance to the evidence and application of wrong tests in assessing the comparative hardship between the parties
The High Court was
there fore entitled to allow the revision