Appeal No 127 of 1976
Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated the 2081975 of the Allahabad High Court Lucknow Bench at Lucknow in Civil Writ Petition No 1062 of 2974
GN Dikshit and SK Bisaria for the Appellant
D Goburdhan for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by GUPTA J
This appeal by special leave arises out of a proceeding under the Uttar Pradesh Urban Buildings Regula tion of Letting Rent and Eviction Act 1972 referred to hereinafter as the Act
On September 11 1973 the appel lant applied under section 161a for allotment of a part of house No 98 Lokmanganj Lucknow
He was in fact in occupation of this portion of the building when he made the application according to the appellant he had been inducted as a tenant by a person representing that he was the owner of the housethough really he was himself a tenant
On November 24 1973 the first respondent also applied for alloting the house to him
Subsequently there were two more applicants for the house
The Area Rationing Officer Rent Control by his order dated June 4 1974 allotted the accom modation to the first respondent
The appellant before us preferred an appeal to the District Judge Lucknow who on August 7 1974 allowed the appeal set aside the order of allotment made in favour of the first respondent and remand ed the case to the Area Rationing Officer Rent Control to be decided afresh in accordance with law
The District Judge pointed out that the Area Rationing Officer Rent Control had ignored altogether rule 11 of the Rules framed under the Act which required that in the matter of allotment the principle first come first served should be followed
The District Judge overruled a contention raised on behalf of the first respondent that the appel lant s application for allotment was not maintainable as he was an unauthorised occupant within the meaning of the Act of the building in question
The appellate authority held that there was no provision in the Act which bars an unau thorised occupant from applying for an allotment
On a writ petition filed by the first respondent the Allahabad High Court quashed the order of the District Judge and restored the order made by the area Rationing Officer Rent Control alloting the house to the first respondent on the view that rule 11 requiring first come first served prin ciple to be followed was applicable only to persons similar ly situated and an unauthorised occupant could not be placed in the same situation as others who were in need of accommodation
According to the High Court the princi ple first come first served was not intend to be applied mechanically and not in such a manner as to frustrate the object of the Act
The correctness of the view taken by the High Court is in challenge before us
It is necessary to refer briefly to the relevant provi sions of the Act and the rules framed thereunder
The Act as its long title shows is a statute to provide in the interest of the general public for the 10 1458SCI76 130 regulation of letting and rent of and the eviction of tenants from certain classes of buildings situated in urban areas and for matters connected therewith
Chapter III of the Act which contains provisions regulating letting in cludes section 11 to section 19
Section 11 lays down that No person shall let any building except in pursuance of an allotment order issued under section 16
Section 12 states inter alia that a landlord or a tenant of a building shall be deemed to have ceased
to occupy the building or part thereof if he has allowed it to be occupied by any person who
is not a member of his family
The appellant and the tenant of the building who inducted him there axe not members of the same family
Section 13 provides that no person shall occupy a building or part thereof which a landlord or tenant has ceased to occupy except under an order of allotment made under section 16 and that if a person so purports to occupy he shall be deemed to be an unauthorised occupant such building or part
Under section 161a the District Magistrate may make an order requiring the landlord to let any building which is or has fallen vacant or is about to fall vacant or a part of such building to any person specified in the order
An order made by the District Magistrate under this provision is called an allot ment order District Magistrate  as defined in section 3c includes an officer authorised by the District Magis trate to exercise all or any of his powers under the Act
An order under section 16 is appealable under section 18
Section 41 authorises the State Government to make rules to carry out the purposes of the Act
Rule 10 of the Rules framed under the Act prescribes the procedure for allotment
The District Magistrate is required to maintain a register of applications for allotment of buildings
The applica tions are to be classified according to the priority catego ries specified in rule 11 and they must be registered in the order they are received
The register is prepared afresh for every calendar year and applicants who are unable to secure allotment by the end of an year and whose applica tions were not rejected as not maintainable are entitled to apply by the 15th of January of the succeeding year for renewal of their applications and they retain their original relative priority
Sub rule 5 of rule 10 provides that no building shall ordinarily be
allotted to the persons or for the purposes specified in clauses a b and c of the sub rule
Sub rule 6 lays down inter alia that a person who is deemed to have ceased to occupy a building within the meaning of section 121b shall not be allotted that or any other residential building for a period of two years from the date of such deemed cessation
Rule 11 which fixes the order of priorities in allotment of residential buildings states in sub rule 1 that In making allotment of a residential building the following order of priorities shall be observed Firstly for public purposes Secondly for accommodating a person against whom an order has been passed for eviction under Section 21 not being a tenant referred to in Explanation 1 to Section 211 or a decree has been passed in a suit filed with the permission of the District Magistrate under section 3 of the old Act or such suit or application is pending and who or 131 members of whose family do not own or hold as tenants any other residential building in the same city municipality town area or notified area Thirdly for accommodating others and in each of the above categories subject to the provisions of sub rule 2 the principle first come first served shall be followed
 As intending allottees the appellant and the first re spondent both come within the third category
If the principle first come first served  is to be followed in choosing between them the appellant s applica tion for allotment being earlier in point of time should have preference unless there is any valid ground for reject ing his claim
We are not concerned in this appeal about the existence of any such ground the District Judge had remitted the case to the Area Rationing Officer Rent Con trol for a fresh decision in accordance with law following the first come first served  principle
The High Court thought that the appellant being in unauthorised occupation of the building within the meaning of section 13 was not entitled to apply for allotment of the premises to him
It does not however appear from the Judgment of the High Court that there is any provision in the Act which disentitles such unauthorised occupants from applying for allotment
The appellant is not one of the persons to whom no building is ordinarily to be allotted under sub rules 5 and 6 of rule 10
The High Court refers to sub rules 4 and 5 of rule 11 to show that the principle first come first served  does not apply in all circumstances
Sub rule 4 gives overriding powers to the District Magistrate to make an allotment out of turn in favour of a person who in occupy ing any accommodation proposed to be requisitioned under the Uttar Pradesh Temporary Accommodation Requisition Act 1947 and to whom alternative accommodation is required to be provided under that Act
Sub rule 5 which is expressly made subject to the other sub rules of rule 11 states that it should be ensured that no person shall be allotted a building which carries so little rent that he is able to get a residence on payment of rent which is less than ten per cent of his salary or other income after taking into con sideration the house rent allowance allowed by his employer
Both these sub rules are quite irrelevant for the present purpose
Therefore assuming that sub rules 4 and 5 are exceptions to the first come first served  principle the appellant s application for allotment cannot be thrown out unless there was some provision prohibiting unauthorised occupants from applying for allotment
The High Court thinks that an unauthorised occupant cannot be placed in the same situations as others who are in need of accommoda tion and that the principle first come first served  has to be applied amongst person of the same category who are similarly situated
The High Court has not mentioned any provision of the Act to justify the view it has taken nor any such provision has been referred to by counsel for the first respondent which disables an unauthorised occupant from applying for an allotment
The disability the High Court infers from the object of the Act
The 132 object of the Act has to be gathered from its provisions and we have not found anything in the Act which disentitles an unauthorised occupant to ask for an allotment
In our opinion the High Court was in error in quashing the order of the District Judge
The appeal is accordingly allowed
The judgment of the High Court is set aside and that of the District Judge dated August 7 1974 is restored
There will be no order as to costs
PHP Appeal allowed


Summary:
In September 1973 the appellant applied under section 161a of the UP Urban Buildings Regulation of letting rent and eviction Act 1972 for the allotment of a part of a house which was actually occupied by him
According to the appellant he was included as a tenant by a person representing himself to be the owner but who in fact was a tenant
In November 1973 the first respondent also ap plied for allotment of the said premises
The Area Ration ing Officer allotted the premises to the first respondent
The District Judge allowed the appeal filed by the appel lant set aside the order of allotment in favour of the first respondent and remanded the case to the Rationing Officer to be decided afresh in accordance with law
The District Judge pointed out that the Area
Rationing Officer had ignored altogether rule 11 of the Rules framed under the Act which required that in the matter of allotment the principle first come first served  should be followed
The District Judge also negatived the contention of the first respondent that the appellant s application was not main tainable since he was an unauthorised occupant
The Court held that there was no provision in the Act which bars an unauthorised occupant from applying for an allotment
In a wit petition filed by the first respondent the High Court quashed the order of the District Judge and restored the order made by the Area Rationing Officer
Section 11 of the Act provides that no person shall let any building except in pursuance of an allotment order issued under section 16
Section 13 provides that no person shall occupy a building or part thereof which a landlord or tenant has ceased to occupy except under an order of allotment made under section 16
Under section 16 the District Magistrate is empowered to make an order requiring the landlord to let any building which is or has fallen vacant or is about to fall vacant or a part of such building to any person specified in the order
An order under sec tion 16 is appealable under section 18
In exercise of powers conferred by section 41 of the Act the rules have been framed by the State Government
Rule 10 prescribes the procedure for allotment
It provides that the application should be entered in the register after classifying them according to the priority of the categories
Rule 10 further provides that a building shall notbe allotted to a person who is deemed to have ceased to occupy a building for a period of two years from the date of such deemed cessation
Rule 11 fixes order of priorities in allotment of residen tial buildings and it further provides that in each of the categories the principle first come first served  shall be followed
Al1owing the appeal HELD 1 The High Court in its judgment has not men tioned any provision in the Act which dissentitles unautho rised occupants from applying for allotment
Rules 105  6 provide that certain persons should not ordinarily be allotted a promises the appellant does not fall within those categories
131D E 2
The High Court infers the disability of an unautho rised occupant from applying for an allotment from the object of the Act
The object of the Act has to be gathered from its provisions
There is nothing in the Act which disentitles an unauthorised occupant from applying for an allotment
131H 132A 129