2002 INSC 0415
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style='text-align:center'>b>SUPREME COURT OF INDIA/b>br> br> JOGINDER PALbr> br>
Vs.br> br> NAVAL KISHORE BEHALbr> br> 10/05/2002br> br> (R.C. Lahoti amp; B.N.
Agrawal)/p> p align=center style='text-align:center'>Appeal (civil) 3494 of 2002/p>
p>b>JUDGMENT /b>/p> p>R.C. Lahoti, J. /p> p>Leave granted. /p> p>An eviction petition filed
by the landlord-respondent urging the ground for eviction under Section 13(3)(a)(ii) of the East
Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (hereinafter the Act, for short), was dismissed by the Rent
Controller but allowed by the Appellate Authority. The decree has been maintained in civil revision
preferred by the tenant in the High Court of Punjab amp; Haryana. The tenant has filed this appeal
by special leave. /p> p>The finding of fact arrived at, and immune from challenge before this Court,
is that the suit premises situated on the ground floor of the building owned by the landlord-
respondent is in occupation of the tenant-appellant for non-residential purpose. The same is required
by the landlord-respondent for the office of his son who is a chartered accountant residing with the
landlord-respondent. On 31.8.2001 Shri S.P. Upadhyay, the learned counsel for the appellant placed
forceful reliance on a Division Bench decision of the High Court in Ravinder Kumar Pujara Vs.
Gian Chand AIR 1987 Punjab amp; Haryana 31 and successfully persuaded this Court to issue
notice limited to the question whether the requirement of chartered accountant son of the landlord is
relevant to direct eviction of the tenant under Section 13(3)(a)(ii) abovesaid. The provision reads as
under :- 13. Eviction of tenants. (1) xxx xxx /p> p>(2) xxx xxx xxxx /p> p>(3) (a)A landlord may
apply to the Controller for an order directing the tenant to put the landlord in possession xxx xxx
xxxx /p> p>(ii) in the case of a non-residential building or rented land, if /p> p>(a) he requires it for
his own use; /p> p>Incidentally, it may be mentioned that the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction
(Amendment) Act, 1956, by Section 2 thereof deleted the words quot;a non-residential building
orquot; from the abovesaid provision. However, this amendment was held ultra vires the
Constitution in Harbilas Rai Bansal Vs. State of Punjab and Anr. (1996) 1 SCC 1, and this Court
directed that as a consequence of the amendment having been declared constitutionally invalid the
original provision of the Act as was operating before the Amendment stands restored and a landlord
under the Act can seek eviction of a tenant from a non-residential building on the ground that he
requires it for his own use. Presently, the question to be determined is __ what construction should
be placed on the phrase 'his own use'? Should it be assigned a narrow meaning that it is the
individual requirement of the landlord or in other words the requirement of the landlord and the
landlord alone which is germane to the provision or should we assign a wide and liberal meaning to
the expression treating it a vibrant one so as to respect the context in which it has been used feeling
the pulse of the object behind the provision. /p> p>It will be useful to state the principles relevant
for interpretation of a provision contained in a Rent Control Law like the one with which we are
dealing. The spurt of provincial rent control legislations is a necessary consequence of population
explosion. In Prabhakaran Nair and Ors. Vs. State of Tamil Nadu and Ors. (1987) 4 SCC 238, the
Court noticed craving for a home __ a natural human instinct, intensified by post-war migration of
human-beings en block place to place, the partition of the country and uprooting of the people from
their hearth and home as vital factors leading to acute housing shortage persuading the Legislatures
to act and enact Rent Control Laws. The Court emphasized the need of making the landlord and
tenant laws rational, humane, certain and capable of being quickly implemented. Benefit of society
at large needs an equalistic balance being maintained between apparently conflicting interests of the
owners of the property and the tenant by inducing and encouraging the landlords to part with
available accommodation for reasonable length of time to accommodate tenants without
unreasonably restricting their right to have the property being restored to them, more so, when they
genuinely require it. Such limited safeguarding of landlords' interest ensures a boost to construction
activity which in turn results in availability of more houses to accommodate more human souls with
roof on their heads. Sabyasachi Mukharji, J., as His Lordship then was, articulated the empty truism
in such words as have become an oft quoted quotation quot;tenants are in all cases not the weaker
sections. There are those who are weak both among the landlords as well as the tenantsquot;. /p>
p>In Malpe Vishwanath Acharya and Ors. Vs. State of Maharashtra and Anr. (1998) 2 SCC 1 this
Court emphasized the need of social legislations like the Rent Control Act striking a balance
between rival interests so as to be just to law. quot;The law ought not to be unjust to one and give a
disproportionate benefit or protection to another section of the societyquot;. While the shortage of
accommodation makes it necessary to protect the tenants to save them from exploitation but at the
same time the need to protect tenants is coupled with an obligation to ensure that the tenants are not
conferred with a benefit disproportionately larger than the one needed. Socially progressive
legislation must have a holistic perception and not a short- sighted parochial approach. Power to
legislate socially progressive legislations is coupled with a responsibility to avoid arbitrariness and
unreasonability. A legislation impregnated with tendency to give undue preference to one section, at
the cost of constraints by placing shackles on the other section, not only entails miscarriage of
justice but may also result in constitutional invalidity. /p> p>In Arjun Khiamal Makhijani Vs.
Jamnadas C. Tuliani and Ors. (1989) 4 SCC 612, this Court dealing with Rent Control Legislation
observed that provisions contained in such legislations are capable of being categorized into two :
those beneficial to the tenants and those beneficial to the landlord. As to a legislative provision
beneficial to landlord, an assertion that even with regard to such provision an effort should be made
to interpret it in favour of the tenant, is a negation of the very principle of interpretation of a
beneficial legislation. /p> p>The need for reasonable interpretation of Rent Control Legislations was
emphasized by this Court in Mst. Bega Begum and Ors. Vs. Abdul Ahad Khan (dead) by Lrs. And
Ors. (1979) 1 SCC 273. Speaking in the context of reasonable requirement of landlord as a ground
for eviction the Court guarded against any artificial extension entailing stretching or straining of
language so as to make it impossible or extremely difficult for the landlord to get a decree for
eviction. The Court warned that such a course would defeat the very purpose of the Act which
affords the facility of eviction of the tenant to the landlord on certain specified grounds. In Kewal
Singh Vs. Lajwanti (1980) 1 SCC 290 this Court has observed, while the rent control legislation has
given a number of facilities to the tenants it should not be construed so as to destroy the limited
relief which it seeks to give to the landlord also. For instance one of the grounds for eviction which
is contained in almost all the Rent Control Acts in the country is the question of landlord's bona fide
personal necessity. The concept of bona fide necessity should be meaningfully construed so as to
make the relief granted to the landlord real and practical. Recently in Shiv Sarup Gupta Vs. Dr.
Mahesh Chand Gupta (1999) 6 SCC 222, the Court has held that the concept of bona fide need or
genuine requirement needs a practical approach instructed by realities of life. An approach either
too liberal or too conservative or pedantic must be guarded against. /p> p>The Rent Control
Legislations are heavily loaded in favour of the tenants treating them as weaker sections of the
society requiring legislative protection against exploitation and unscrupulous devices of greedy
landlords. The Legislative intent has to be respected by the Courts while interpreting the laws. But it
is being uncharitable to Legislatures if they are attributed with an intention that they lean only in
favour of the tenants and while being fair to the tenants go to the extent of being unfair to the
landlords. The Legislature is fair to the tenants and to the landlords both. The Courts have to adopt a
reasonable and balanced approach while interpreting Rent Control Legislations starting with an
assumption that an equal treatment has been meted out to both the sections of the society. In spite of
the overall balance tilting in favour of the tenants, while interpreting such of the provisions as take
care of the interest of landlord the Court should not hesitate in leaning in favour of the landlords.
Such provisions are engrafted in rent control legislations to take care of those situations where the
landlord too are week and feeble and feel humble. /p> p>Both the learned counsel for the parties
submitted that so far as the expression 'his own usequot; as occurring in Section 13(3)(a)(ii)(a) is
concerned no occasion has hitherto before arisen enabling this Court making an authoritative
interpretation and pronouncement. The nearest available decision is Mst. Bega Begum and Ors.
(supra) which has been referred to by the High Court in its impugned judgment and was relied on by
Shri Sudhir Chandra, the learned senior counsel for the landlord-respondent. Section 11(1)(h) of J
amp; K Houses and Shops Rent Control Act, 1966 provides for the tenant being evicted if the
landlord requires the house for 'his own occupation'. The Court held that the provision is meant for
the benefit of the landlord and therefore it must be so construed as to advance the object of the Act.
The word quot;own occupationquot; contemplates the actual possession of the landlord whether for
his own residence or for his business. Furthermore, the provision is wide enough to include the
necessity of not only the landlord but also of the persons who are living with him as members of the
same family. The words quot;own occupationquot; cannot be so narrowly interpreted as to indicate
actual physical possession of the landlord personally and nothing more than that. /p> p>We may
refer to a few decided cases of different High Courts wherein pari materia provisions contained in
different legislations were considered by different High Courts. /p> p>In B.Balaiah Vs. Chandoor
Lachaiah AIR 1965 Andhra Pradesh 435, Section 10(3)(a)(iii) of the Andhra Pradesh Buildings
(Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1960 came up for consideration of the Division Bench. The
landlord could seek a direction for recovery of possession of the building quot;for the purpose of a
business which he is carrying onquot; or which quot;the landlord bona fide proposes to
commencequot;. The Division Bench made a review of the decisions delivered by different High
Courts under local Rent Control Legislations and held that these expressions are not necessarily
confined to the physical requirement of the landlord himself. Such expression ought to be construed
liberally and not in a narrow way. They are susceptible to a wide meaning and include within the
meaning of quot;ownquot; not only the members of the landlord's family but also those persons who
are socially or economically dependent on him and whose responsibilities he has accepted. This is
based on the necessity of realizing that the family in India, whether joint or separate, is the social
unit of Indian civilization and it is of greater public importance to keep it together. The Division
Bench concluded by holding that the expression quot;landlordquot; or quot;hisquot; must include all
normal emanations of the landlord so as to include his wife and children though on a strict
construction of the expression they may not be available to be included within quot;landlord
himselfquot;. The requirement of a major son and a coparcener in a joint Hindu family intending to
start a business was deemed to be the requirement of landlord himself. This decision was cited with
approval in Mst. Bega Begum and Ors.'s case (supra). /p> p>Sub-Clause (vi) of Clause 13 of C.P.
and Berar Letting of Houses and Rent Control Order, 1949 provides one ground for eviction as 'that
the landlord needs the house or a portion thereof for the purpose of his bona fide occupation'. In
V.M. Deshmukh Vs. K.M. Kothari and Ors. 1951 N.L.J. 250, the Division Bench quoted from
Smith v. Penny - (1946) 2 All England Reports 672 __quot;the family is the unit of our civilization.
To keep the family together is of high public importancequot; and held that the word quot;hisquot;
must be interpreted so as to include the family and not in a narrow way and in the context of
business the words __ quot;his ownquot; of the landlord __ should be defined as meaning something
in which the landlord or his family have pecuniary interest. The need of the landlord's wife who was
a medical practitioner wanting to run a maternity home was held covered by clause 13(3)(vi)
abovesaid. On the same principle, in Balabhadra Beharilal Vs. Premchand Lalchand and Ors. AIR
1953 Nagpur 144, the need of a widowed daughter and her children was held to be 'his own' need of
the landlord. The Division Bench observed that no doubt after marriage the daughter passes out of
the father's family and goes into that of the husband but marriage does not sever the blood
relationship which exists between a father and his daughter. The existence of this relationship does
give rise to certain moral obligations and in pursuance thereof where a father affords support to his
daughter and her children, their needs become his needs. It was held that the phraseology employed
by the Legislature could not restrict a landlord's needs to his personal needs and would include not
only the members of the landlord's family but also of all those persons who are dependent on him
and whose responsibilities he has adopted. /p> p>Section 21 of U.P. Urban Buildings (Regulation of
Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972 provides for the accommodation being released if bona fide
required by the landlord for occupation by himself or members of his family or for any person for
whose benefit it is held by him. In Nand Rani Vs. Additional District Judge, Moradabad and Anr.
AIR 1980 Allahabad 148, the need was for setting up daughter's son in business. The daughter's son
was not a member of the family nor the accommodation could be said to be held for his benefit. The
Court held that the provisions of the Act cannot be read so as to put an end to the ties of affection,
friendship, kinship or sheer necessity. In appropriate circumstances the landlord may be so much
concerned with and interested in the requirement of or for another person, who is not a member of
his family as defined in Section 3(g), that the requirement may be properly regarded as the
landlord's own requirement depending on the extent of landlord's identification with the person
concerned to be determined on the evidence and circumstances of the particular case. /p> p>Section
13(1)(g) of Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947 entitles a landlord to
recover possession of any premises on the Court being satisfied that quot;the premises are
reasonably and bona fide required by the landlord for occupation by himself or by any person for
whose benefit the premises are heldquot;. In Nanalal Goverdhandas amp; Co. amp; Ors. Vs. Smt.
Samratbai Lilachand Shah AIR 1981 Bom 1, the High Court construed the import of words quot;by
himselfquot; and held that quot;for occupation by himselfquot; do not restrict the proposed
occupation to the occupation of landlord alone but may include the occupation by member of his
family. The requirement of the landlord for occupation by the dependent of the landlord may be the
requirement by the landlord. In a given case the landlord may be dependent upon a person and it
may be the necessity of the landlord that such other person should occupy the premises. If
emotionally the landlord feels that a relation of his such as daughter or son-in-law should stay with
him, it can be regarded as the requirement by the landlord of the premises 'for occupation by
himself'. This is as regards residential premises. In case of non-residential premises if the landlord's
interests are shown to be linked with the occupation of those premises by some one for whom he is
seeking the possession of the suit premises it can be said that the requirement of the landlord for
occupation by himself is established. The High Court also held that if there is a moral or legal
obligation of the landlord to provide accommodation to a particular person then the requirement by
the landlord for occupation of that person may squarely fall under Section 13(1)(g). Having taken
into consideration the several precedents from different High Courts the learned Judge held that the
determinative test underlying the several propositions propounded by the High Courts is the basic
fact that the requirement is by the landlord and that there must be a nexus between the interests of
the landlord and the one who would physically occupy the premises so as to tantamount to
occupation of the premises quot;by himselfquot;, i.e., the landlord. In Institute of Radio Technology
and Ors. Vs. Pandurang Baburao AIR 1946 Bombay 212, Section 11 of Bombay Rent Restriction
Act, 1939 was dealt with by the Division Bench and the words quot;his own occupationquot; were
held to include occupation by all persons who are dependent on the landlord. /p> p>A Division
Bench of Patna High Court has opined in Bidhubhusan Sen Vs. Commissioner, Patna Division,
Patna and Anr. 1955 BLJR 654, that the expression quot;his own occupationquot; as occurring in
sub-Section (3)(a) of Section 11 of the Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control act, 1947
does not mean only the occupation of the landlord himself but includes the occupation of other
persons who live with the landlord and are economically dependent on him. The requirement of
nephew, who's maintenance was responsibility of the landlord was held to be covered by the
expression 'his own occupation' of the landlord. /p> p>In Puspa Lata Debi Vs. Dinesh Chandra Das
85 C.L.J. 74, P.B. Mukharji, J. (as His Lordship then was) observed that the expression quot;for his
own occupationquot; in Section 11(1)(f) of W.B. Premises Rent Control (Temporary Provisions)
Act, 1948 does not necessarily mean of the particular individual alone but must be widely
interpreted to include the family and dependents. The context of social order, the habits and ideas of
living and the religious and socio- religious customs of the community to which the individual
concerned belongs are relevant determining factors. /p> p>Section 21 (1)(h) of Mysore Rent
Control Act, 1961 contemplates an order of eviction being passed only if the premises are
reasonably and bona fide required by the landlord for occupation by himself. In K. Govindarajulu
Vs. Savithramma 1969 (2) RCJ 107, the landlady required the tenancy premises, non-residential in
nature, for her husband, a retired doctor, and her daughter, who had resigned her job as a house
surgeon, both of them wanting to run a nursing home and a clinic in the tenancy premises. The
husband and the daughter were living together with the landlady. The Mysore High Court held that
the words quot;occupation by himselfquot; should be understood to mean not merely the landlord or
the landlady but also the husband or the wife or the children or the other dependents. In the
predecessor provision the requirement of members of the landlord's family was also included but the
same was deleted. In the opinion of Mysore High Court that amendment did not make any
difference. /p> p>Similar provision is contained in Section 21(1)(h) of Karnataka Rent Control Act,
1961. In Dr. Syed Sibgathullah Vs. C.M. Abdul Aziz Khan, 1983 (1) RCJ 516, the Division Bench
consisting of M.N. Venkatachaliah and M. Rama Jois, JJ. (as their Lordships were then) cited with
approval the decision of Court of Appeal of England in Riches v. Wilson, 1963 (2) All England
Reports 336, in which Willmer, L.J. interpreting the expression 'himself' used in paragraph (h) of
Schedule-I to the English Rent and Mortgage Interest restrictions (Amendment Act 1933) had held,
quot;quite plainly the expression quot;himselfquot; must include all the normal 'emanations' of
himselfquot;, and concluded to say, __quot;So, the test by the application of which I should decide
this case is whether it could be said that when the sister lives in the premises, the landlord himself
lives there through his sister. If he does the sisters occupation is the occupation of the landlord 'by
himself' and the household would then be a common household. If that be the true position, the
landlord should get an order for possession.quot; The Division Bench followed the Bombay and
Mysore view (which we have already referred to) and held that the submission that 'himself' refers
to landlord in person or his dependent who resides with him and not separated is too technical and
artificial a construction which if accepted would rob the provision of its real intention and purpose
and it does not merit acceptance. The Court proceeded to note a variety of circumstances by
reference to which the actual occupation of the premises by another has to be regarded
constructively as the occupation by the 'emanation' of the landlord himself. quot;It is not possible to
state exhaustively all the circumstances in which the physical occupation of a person other than the
landlord would have to be registered as occupation by the landlord himself. A few illustrations,
however, would bring home the point. For instance, the occupation of the premises by a person who
is economically dependent on the landlord, the occupation of the premises by a major son or
daughter including a married daughter whose residence in the premises is genuinely desired by the
landlord, the occupation of the premises out of necessity by those who are kith and kin of the
landlord for the purpose of the Dr. (sick) education or medical treatment as the case may be as
genuinely desired by the landlord, would have to be regarded as occupation by the landlord
himself.quot; The Division Bench however sounded a note of caution and clarified __ quot;the
Court should be circumspect in finding out as to whether having regard to the facts and
circumstances of the case and the evidence adduced such occupation could be regarded as
occupation by the landlord himself or was only a ruse to get an order of eviction.quot; The Court
further observed that all the relevant factors and attendant circumstances shall have to be taken into
consideration besides (i) the degree of relationship or dependence, (ii) the circumstances under
which the landlord's claim for the premises arises and put forward; (iii) the intrinsic tenability of the
claim having regard to the realities of life and the social mores and the like and shall have all to be
put into the scales and go into the judicial verdict. Section 10(3)(c) of Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease
and Rent Control) Act, 1960 provides for tenant placing the landlord in possession quot;if he
requires additional accommodation for residential purpose or for purposes of a business which he is
carrying onquot;. Consistent view of Madras High Court as noted in R.V. Dharmalinga Mudaliar Vs.
K. Annamalai 1982 (1) RCJ 699, is that the phraseology employed needs a wider interpretation and
includes therein the requirement of either himself or any other opportunity of his or her family as
such an approach stands to reason, justice, equity and good conscience. The requirement of the
landlord's first wife's son working independently so as to set up him and his family was held
covered by the provision. /p> p>Two decisions by Delhi High Court though dealing with
requirement for residential purpose may yet be noted for their utility. Section 14(1)(e) of Delhi Rent
Control Act, 1958 contemplates the landlord requiring the suit premises bona fide 'for himself' as a
ground of eviction. In Smt. Krishna Devi Vs. Smt. Parmeshwari Devi 1977 (2) RCJ 529, the
landlady required the premises for the family of her married daughter to come and live with her as
she was unable to look after herself and thus the requirement which she pleaded was for herself
covered within the meaning of the word quot;himselfquot;. It was held that the relationship was
immaterial so long as the requirement was a genuine one and was meant to serve the need of the
landlady. /p> p>In J.L. Mehta Vs. Smt. Hira Devi 1970 DLT 484, it was held that assigning a
restricted meaning to the word 'himself' would lead to anomalous and unreasonable results. The
requirement of the sons of the landlady who were married and earning for themselves was held to be
included within the requirement of 'himself' for the landlady. /p> p>The preceding reference to
several decisions rendered by different High Courts under different State Legislations is not
intended by any means to be an exhaustive survey of available case law. We have set out only by
way of illustrations the decision on which we could lay our hands in the plethora of precedents to
show the meaning assigned to the words quot;his ownquot; generally by the High Courts in the
country dealing with different fact-situations. The judicial opinion leans entirely in favour of
assigning the expression 'his own' requirement of the landlord a liberal, wide and useful even an
extended meaning as that would advance the purpose of enacting the provision, discarding a narrow
interpretation. /p> p>We are of the opinion that the expression 'for his own use' as occurring in
Section 13(3)(a)(iii) of the Act cannot be narrowly construed. The expression must be assigned a
wider, liberal and practical meaning. The requirement is not the requirement of the landlord alone in
the sense that the landlord must for himself require the accommodation and to fulfill the
requirement he must himself physically occupy the premises. The requirement of a member of the
family or of a person on whom the landlord is dependent or who is dependent on the landlord can be
considered to be the requirement of the landlord for his own use. In the several decided cases
referred to hereinabove we have found the pari materia provisions being interpreted so as to include
the requirement of the wife, husband, sister, children including son, daughter, a widowed daughter
and her son, nephew, coparceners, members of family and dependents and kith and kin in the
requirement of landlord as quot;hisquot; or quot;his ownquot; requirement and user. Keeping in
view the social or socio-religious milieu and practices prevalent in a particular section of society or
a particular region, to which the landlord belongs, it may be obligation of the landlord to settle a
person closely connected with him to make him economically independent so as to support himself
and/or the landlord. To discharge such obligation the landlord may require the tenancy premises and
such requirement would be the requirement of the landlord. If the requirement is of actual user of
the premises by a person other than the landlord himself the Court shall with circumspection inquire
: (i) whether the requirement of such person can be considered to be the requirement of the landlord,
and (ii) whether there is a close inter-relation or identity nexus between such person and the
landlord so as to satisfy the requirement of the first query. Applying the abovesaid tests to the facts
of the present case it is clear that the tenancy premises are required for the office of the landlord's
son who is a chartered accountant. It is the moral obligation of the landlord to settle his son well in
his life and to contribute his best to see him economically independent. The landlord is not going to
let out the premises to his son and though the son would run his office in the premises the
possession would continue with the landlord and in a sense the actual occupation by the son would
be the occupation by the landlord himself. It is the landlord who requires the premises for his son
and in substance the user would be by landlord for his son's office. The case squarely falls within
the scope of Section 13(3)(a)(ii) of the Act. /p> p>Ravinder Kumar Pujara's case (supra) relied on
by the learned counsel for the tenant-appellant which holds that setting up of independent business
of the son of the landlord is not covered by Section 13(3)(a)(ii) of the Act takes too narrow a view
of the provision; it does not lay down the correct law and is overruled. /p> p>Learned counsel for
the appellant also invited our attention to Onkar Nath Vs. Ved Vyas (1980) 4 SCC 270, wherein
Section 13(3)(a)(i) of this very Act, which is a provision dealing with requirement of a residential
building for own occupation by the landlord, came up for the consideration of this Court. The Court
was not called up to interpret the expression 'his own occupation'. There were inadequacies of
pleadings and total absence of proof as to non- availability of other residential building and as to
non-vacating of any building without sufficient cause by the landlord after the commencement of
the Act. As the landlord failed to allege and prove the latter two out of the three requirements of the
provision this Court held the landlord not entitled to any relief and in that context observed that the
Statute beneficially designed to protect tenants from unreasonable evictions has taken care to put
restrictions which must be rigorously constructed to fulfil the purpose of the Statute. The case has
no applicability and relevance for resolving the issue arising for our consideration in the present
case and observation made by the Court cannot be read divorced from the context. /p> p>The
learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the language of the provision is plain and simple,
not doubtful, and hence the expression 'his own use' should be interpreted literally according to well
settled canon of interpretation. It is true that ordinary rule of construction is to assign the word a
meaning which it ordinarily carries. But the subject of legislation and the context in which a word or
expression is employed may require a departure from the rule of literal construction. The following
passage from Statutory Interpretation by Justice G.P. Singh (Eighth Edition, 2001, at pp.81- 82) is
an appropriate guide to the case at hand : /p> p>quot;quot;No wordquot;, says Professor H.A. Smith
quot;has an absolute meaning, for no words can be defined in vacuo, or without reference to some
contextquot;. According to Sutherland there is a quot;basic fallacyquot; in saying quot;that words
have meaning in and of themselvesquot;, and quot;reference to the abstract meaning of wordsquot;,
states Craies, quot;if there be any such thing, is of little value in interpreting statutesquot;. . . . . . . .
.in determining the meaning of any word or phrase in a statute the first question to be asked is
quot;what is the natural or ordinary meaning of that word or phrase in its context in the statute? It is
only when that meaning leads to some result which cannot reasonably be supposed to have been the
intention of the Legislature, that it is proper to look for some other possible meaning of the word or
phrasequot;. The context, as already seen, in the construction of statutes, means the statute as a
whole, the previous state of the law, other statutes in para materia the general scope of the statute
and the mischief that was intended to remedy.quot; /p> p>Words cannot be construed in vacuo. In
Bidie v. General Accident, Fire and Life Assurance Corporation __ (1948) 2 All ER 995, 998, Lord
Greene observed quot;The first thing one has to do, I venture to think, in construing words in a
Section of an Act of Parliament is not to take those words in vacuo so to speak, and attribute to
them what is sometimes called their natural or ordinary meaning. Few words in the English
language have a natural or ordinary meaning in the sense that they must be so read that their
meaning is entirely independent of their context. The method of construing statutes that I prefer is
not to take particular words and attribute to them a sort of prima facie meaning which you may have
to displace or modify. It is to read the statute as a whole and ask oneself the question : 'In this state,
in this context, relating to this subject- matter, what is the true meaning of that word?'quot; In
Towne v. Eisner, (1917) 245 US 418m 425, Homes, J. observed quot;A word is not a crystal,
transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of living thought and may vary greatly in colour and
content according to the circumstances and the time in which is used.quot; Both these decisions
were cited with approval by Chief Justice Sikri in Kesavananda Bharti Vs. State of Kerala (1973) 4
SCC 225, 316. /p> p>In Union of India Vs. Sankalchand Himatlal Sheth and Anr. (1977) 4 SCC
193, Bhagwati, J. held that the words used in Statute cannot be read in isolation; their colour and
content are derived from their context and, therefore, every word in a statute must be examined in
its context. His Lordship explained what he meant by the word 'context' and proceeded to say quot;I
mean it in its widest sense as including not only other enacting provisions of the same statute, but its
preamble, the existing state of the law, other statutes in pari materia and the mischief which the
statute intended to remedyquot;. His Lordship called upon the courts faced with the task of
assigning meaning to a word to remember that a statute always has some purpose or object to
accomplish whose sympathetic and imaginative discovery is the surest guide to its meaning. The
literal construction should not obsess the court because it has only prima facie preference. Krishna
Iyer, J. in his separate opinion emphasized the need of keeping in view quot;the roots of the past, the
foliage of the present and the seeds of the futurequot; while understanding and interpreting a statute
and held that judicial interpretation should not be imprisoned in verbalism and words lose their
thrust when read in vacuo. In Maharaj Singh Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh (1977) 1 SCC 155, this
Court held that the context would quite often provide the key to the meaning of the word and the
sense it should carry. Its setting would give colour to it and provide a cue to the intention of the
Legislature in using it. /p> p>Maxwell on The Interpretation of Statutes (Twelfth Edition) states,
while dealing with beneficial construction of statute, the Judges quot;faced with a choice between a
wide meaning which carries out what appears to have been the object of the legislature more fully,
and a narrow meaning which carries it out less fully or not at all, they will often choose the
formerquot; (at page 92). The rule of construction most agreeable to justice and reason is to
presume against intending what is inconvenient or unreasonable. quot;In determining either the
general object of the Legislature, or the meaning of its language in any particular passage, it is
obvious that the intention which appears to be most in accord with convenience, reason, justice and
legal principles should, in all cases of doubtful significance, be presumed to be the true onequot; (at
page 199). /p> p>In providing key to the meaning of any word or expression the context in which it
is set has significance. Colour and content emanating from context may permit sense being preferred
to mere meaning depending on what is sought to be achieved and what is sought to be prevented by
the legislative scheme surrounding the expression. Requirement of landlord for his own use, is an
expression capable of attributing an intention to the legislature that what was intended to be fulfilled
is such requirement as would persuade the landlord to have the premises vacated by the tenant, to
forego the rental income, and to put the premises to such use as the landlord would deem to be his
own use and in the given facts and circumstances of a case the Court too would hold it to be so in
contradistinction with a mere ruse to evict the tenant. The legislature intending to protect the tenant
also intends to lift the protection when it is the requirement of landlord to put the accommodation to
such use as he intends, away from leasing it out. /p> p>We have already noticed that the purpose of
the Act is to restrict increase of rent and the eviction of tenants in urban areas. Still the Legislature
has taken care to provide grounds for eviction, one of them being the requirement of the landlord.
We have to strike a balance between the need of protecting the tenants from unjustified evictions
and the need for eviction when ground for eviction is one such as the requirement of the landlord. If
we do not meaningfully construe the concept of requirement the provision may suffer from the risk
of being branded as unreasonable, arbitrary or as placing uncalled for and unreasonable restrictions
on the right of the owner to hold and use his property. We cannot place a construction on the
expression 'for his own use' in such a way as to deny the landlord a right to evict his tenant when he
needs the accommodation for his own son to settle himself well in his life. We have to give colour
and content to the expression and provide the skin of a living thought to the skeleton of the words
which the Legislature has not itself chosen to define. The Indian society, its customs and
requirements and the context where the provision is set in the legislation are the guides leading to
acceptance of the meaning which we have chosen to assign to the words 'for his own use' in Section
13(3)(a)(ii) of the Act. /p> p>Our conclusions are crystalised as under: /p> p>(i) the words 'for his
own use' as occurring in Section 13(3)(a)(ii) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949
must receive a wide, liberal and useful meaning rather than a strict or narrow construction. /p>
p>(ii) The expression __ landlord requires for 'his own use', is not confined in its meaning to actual
physical user by the landlord personally. The requirement not only of the landlord himself but also
of the normal 'emanations' of the landlord is included therein. All the cases and circumstances in
which actual physical occupation or user by someone else, would amount to occupation or user by
the landlord himself, cannot be exhaustively enumerated. It will depend on a variety of factors such
as inter-relationship and inter-dependence __ economic or otherwise, between the landlord and such
person in the background of social, socio-religious and local customs and obligations of the society
or region to which they belong. /p> p>(iii) The tests to be applied are : (i) whether the requirement
pleaded and proved may properly be regarded as the landlord's own requirement? and, (ii) Whether
on the facts and in the circumstances of a given case actual occupation and user by a person other
than the landlord would be deemed by the landlord as 'his own' occupation or user? The answer
would, in its turn, depend on (i) the nature and degree of relationship and/or dependence between
the landlord pleading the requirement as 'his own' and the person who would actually use the
premises; (ii) the circumstances in which the claim arises and is put forward, and (iii) the intrinsic
tenability of the claim. The Court on being satisfied of the reasonability and genuineness of claim,
as distinguished from a mere ruse to get rid of the tenant, will uphold the landlord's claim. /p>
p>(iv) While casting its judicial verdict, the Court shall adopt a practical and meaningful approach
guided by the realities of life. /p> p>(v) In the present case, the requirement of landlord of the suit
premises for user as office of his chartered accountant son is the requirement of landlord 'for his
own use' within the meaning of Section 13(3)(a)(ii). /p> p>The appeal is dismissed. The tenant is
allowed four months time to vacate the premises subject to his clearing all the arrears and filing the
usual undertaking in the Executing Court to deliver vacant and peaceful possession over the suit
premises to the landlord- respondent on expiry of the time allowed. Compliance in four weeks./p>
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