MUHAMMAD HUSSAIN vs AMTUL BATUL
This matter arises from a dispute over residential premises in Karachi, which were transferred to the respondent in 1959 and subsequently let out to the petitioner in 1961. The petitioner defaulted on rent payments from July 1961 to December 1963, prompting the respondent to file an ejectment application. The Rent Controller ordered the petitioner's eviction, a decision upheld by both the First Appellate Authority and summarily by the High Court of West Pakistan. The core legal question addressed is whether Section 13-A of the West Pakistan Urban Rent Restriction Ordinance, 1959, has retrospective application to ejectment proceedings instituted before its enactment, and whether prolonged rent default can be condoned due to collateral disputes in the Settlement Department. The Supreme Court held that Section 13-A cannot be applied retrospectively to an ejectment application filed in 1963 before the provision came into force in 1965, and that arrears exceeding two years of rent cannot be condoned based on pending settlement department disputes. The petition for leave to appeal was accordingly dismissed.
- Does Section 13-A of the West Pakistan Urban Rent Restriction Ordinance, 1959, apply retrospectively to ejectment applications filed before its enactment?
- Can a tenant's default in rent exceeding two years be condoned merely because a collateral dispute is pending in the Settlement Department?
- Section 13-A, West Pakistan Urban Rent Restriction Ordinance 1959
ORDER
1. WAHIDUDDIN AHMAD, J.-The dispute between the parties is in respect of residential premises No. 713/1 G. M. Jamshed Quarters, Karachi. This property was transferred to respondent Mst. Amtul Batul in 1959, by the Settlement authorities and an appendix was issued to her. On the 30th January 1961, Mst. Amtul Batul let out this premises to the petitioner. At monthly rent of Rs. 250. It appears that the petitioner failed to pay the rent of the property in dispute from 1st July 1961 to the 31st December 1963 to the respondent. Consequently, the respondent filed an application for his ejectment before the Rent Controller. The learned Rent Controller, by order dated the 29th April 1969, ordered his eviction. The First Appellate Authority also upheld this order by judgment dated the 9th July 1969, in Rent Appeal No. 258 of 1969. The matter was then taken to the High Court of West Pakistan and a learned Single Judge of the High Court dismissed the appeal summarily. The petitioner seeks permission to file an appeal against the said order.
2. Section 13-A of the West Pakistan Urban Rent Restriction Ordinance, 1959, has also no application on the facts of the present case. The ejectment application was filed against the petitioner in 1963 while this particular provision of law came into force in 1965. On the language of this provision of law it cannot be applied retrospectively.
3. The last objection of the petitioner that the learned Rent Controller has not exercised the discretion vested in him properly is also not well founded. The petitioner is in arrears for more than two years of the rent. The mere fact that the dispute was going on between the parties in the Settlement Department is no ground to condone the default made by the petitioner. There is no force in the petition which is dismissed.