2012 CLC 906 PESHAWAR-HIGH-COURT

Full text

Dr. ABDUL BASIT VS ADDITIONAL DISTRICT JUDGE-II, ABBOTTABAD Constitutional petition--TERM , Good faith--TERM , West Pakistan Urban Rent Restriction Ordinance 1959--13 , Ss. 13 (3) & 13(4)---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 199---Constitutional Petition---Ejectment of tenant on ground of bona fide personal need of landlord---Concurrent dismissal of ejectment petition---Good faith---Contention of the landlord (petitioner) was that he required the premises for his son who intended to run a business in the premises---Validity---Term "good faith" was the prime and essential ingredient for ejectment of a tenant---Mala fide intention of landlord for ejectment on the ground of personal need could only be ascertained if it was proved that the landlord was in fact not "needy" but was rather "greedy" and only desired to enhance the rent according to his own will or wanted to rent the premises out to another person on higher rent---Trial Court had non-suited the landlord on the sole ground that son of the landlord had obtained education in law from abroad, and had no experience in the field for which he had prayed for bona fide personal need---Only on the simple knowledge , any resourceful person through management of experts, could establish his business in any field---Son of the landlord had a right and it was his prerogative to choose a profession according to his own choice, temperament, family and social compulsions---Personal requirement for occupation of premises for landlord's son seemed to be based on bona fide grounds---Tenants had failed to prove that the petitioner was not a "needy" but a "greedy" person---Landlord, it had been established, required the premises for bona fide personal need of his son in good faith and the courts below had wrongly and illegally declined such relief to the landlord Constitutional petition was allowed, accordingly---High Court, however, observed that in case the petitioner (landlord) did not occupy the premises within one month of eviction, or rented it out to any other tenant after two months of obtaining possession, then under S.13(4) of the West Pakistan Urban Rent Restrictions Ordinance, 1959 the tenant could apply to the Rent Controller for restoration of possession---Rights of the tenant were also protected if the suit premises after eviction were not taken into possession by the landlord for running his own business.