IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Revision No.4346 of 2010 (O&M) Date of decision: 16th July, 2010 Palwinder Singh … Petitioner Versus Avtar Singh … Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. Sandeep Arora, Advocate for the petitioner. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (ORAL) Present revision petition preferred by the petitioner-tenant is directed against the order of eviction passed by the Rent Controller and affirmed by the appellate Court below. Both the courts below gave a concurrent finding that the demised shop was required by the respondent-landlord for his personal necessity. Briefly stated, the petitioner was inducted as a tenant by the respondent-landlord at a monthly rent of Rs.2000/-. The eviction of the petitioner-tenant was sought on two grounds, firstly that he was in arrears of rent with effect from 1st May, 1990 till filing of the eviction petition, and secondly, the shop in question was required for personal use of the landlord, as he being a farmer by profession, after having leased out his land, intended to start a business of Khad and Seed Store. The petitioner- tenant filed written statement, taking a preliminary objection that the description of the shop had been wrongly given with malafide intention Civil Revision No.4346 of 2010 (O&M) and the personal necessity of the landlord was not made out. The Rent Controller formulated the following issues: (1) Whether the petitioner is entitled to ejectment of the respondent on the ground of arrears of rent ? OPA (2) Whether the petitioner is entitled to ejectment of respondent on the ground of bonafide necessity ? OPA (3) Whether the petition is not maintainable ? OPR (4) Whether the petitioner has no cause of action to file the present petition ? OPR (5) Relief. The respondent-landlord himself appeared as AW-1 and the petitioner-tenant as RW-1. The Rent Controller held that the amount of rent along with interest and cost was tendered to the Court and was accepted by the landlord, therefore, the ground of non-payment of rent was held to be untenable. However, the contention of the respondent- landlord that he had leased out 4/5 acres of agricultural land and thereafter, to keep himself busy, he intended to run a fertilizer and seed store, was accepted, as a valid ground of personal necessity. The Court further considered the fact that the tenant had purchased the adjoining shop and was running his business of hardware from both the shops. The plea raised that the landlord is an agriculturist and his son is a teacher, therefore, the shop is not required for his personal necessity, was negated by both the courts below on the ground that the landlord had leased-out his agricultural land and therefore, he intends to start his own shop of Khad and Seed Store. Another fact which emerged before both the courts below was that the adjoining shop was purchased by the petitioner-tenant, therefore, he was carrying on his business of 2 Civil Revision No.4346 of 2010 (O&M) hardware in two shops, one owned by him and the other by the respondent-landlord. The contention advanced by counsel for the petitioner-tenant that the respondent-landlord has no experience of running a business, therefore, the same will be an utter failure, is liable to be rejected, as the landlord cannot be denied eviction of his shop only on the ground that as per the perception of the tenant, his business will not be successful. Counsel for the petitioner has further referred to para 15 of the revision petition to state that the landlord had another shop, besides the shop in dispute, therefore, he should get the same vacated. This contention is also to be rejected, as it is for the landlord to decide, from which place his business venture will be successful. Furthermore, this plea was not raised before both the courts below. Taking totality of circumstances into consideration, I find no reason to disturb the well reasoned finding recorded by both the courts below. Hence, there is no merit in the present revision petition and the same is hereby dismissed. [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE July 16, 2010 rps 3