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TMI Blog1971 (4) TMI 104X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t after the transfer of the plot, the petitioner-society constructed some shops on a portion of this land in the year 1962 and the remaining land remained reserved for construction of a library. The construction was not taken in hand immediately, because of lack f funds and meanwhile on 2nd November, 1965, the vacant part of the plot was let to Bhupinder Pal singh respondent for running a fuel and coal stall with the specific condition that the respondent will vacate the plot when required by the petitioner Society to do so. 3. A notice was served on the respondent to vacate the land, which was not complied with and then an application for ejectment of the tenant-respondent was made on 1st July, 1967, Inter alia on the ground that the plot was required by the Society for its own use for the construction of library building. The ground for non-payment of rent was also taken but that is not relevant now because the arrears were paid. 4. The tenant-respondent denied that the plot was bona fide required by the Society for its own use or that the vacant plot was reserved for the library and it was suggested that the real object behind the whole move was to enhance th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ....... .............. ...............and we have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the word 'for his own use' in sub clause (a) in the circumstances must be limited in the manner indicated above as that will give full protection to tenants of rented land and save them from eviction unless the landlord requires such land for the same purpose for which it had been let i.e. principally for trade or business. It was held that in as much as in the case before the Supreme Court the land was required not for business or trade but for constructing a house for himself, the land lord was not entitled to get the tenant elected. 7. This case of the supreme Court came for consideration by a Division Bench of this Court in Dhan Devi v. Bakshi Ram. In that case it was further held that vacant land must be required as such for business or trade. 8. Great deal of argument was addressed to us suggesting that in Dhan Devi's case the statement of law went far beyond than that the rule laid down by the Supreme Court would be amply satisfied the landlord required the premises ultimately for business or trade and in particular, it was urged that if th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... st necessarily yield profit. 11. In Corpus Juris Secundum, Volume 12, at page 762, the word 'business' in its broad sense is defined as follows:-- In its broad, its broader, or in its broadest, sense in its more general or common use in its primary meaning when used colloquially the word 'business' carries with it a very broad meaning; and it has been said that it denotes not only all gainful occupations, but all occupations or duties in which men engage................................: has common and general application to all sorts of enterprises which engage people's attention and energies; and includes nearly all the affairs in which either an individual or a corporation can be actors; and is a word in common use to describe every occupation in which men engage. ------ ------ the word is commonly employed in connection with an occupation for livelihood or profit but it is not limited to such pursuits, for it has been said that the definition of 'business' by the lexicographers is sufficiently broad and comprehensive to embrace every employment or occupation ............. ............ ............. The very fact, that the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... it by the tenant and that no eviction will be sought till a plan of the building has been got sanctioned from the Municipal Committee. In fact at the last date of hearing the Society produced a plan of the library building duly sanctioned by the Municipal Committee, Ludhiana. This plan was sanctioned under the order of the Administrator of the Municipal Committee dated 19th October 1970. According to this sanctioned plan, a library hall with an attached verandah together with an office and a store, was proposed to be constructed in addition to a bath and latrine in the open space left. This sanctioned plan and the undertaking given by the society that the construction of the library building will completed within a period of one year from the date of the taking of the possession hardly leaves any doubt about the bonafides of the Society, that it requires the vacant plot for the purpose of constructing library building. 16. Even, apart from this, there was nothing on the record, barring the bare statement of the tenant to indicate that the Society, the office-bearers of which are persons who had held respectable positions in life, did not mean to do what it says it intende ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a particular structure or building on the rented land anything contained in Section 13 of the Act prohibits the landlord from making such a claim under Section 13(3)(a)(ii). 20. The relevant facts proved to the satisfaction of the Division Bench, as mentioned in the order of reference on which the above questions have be answered, may first be recapitulated. The land lord, who is the petitioner before us, is a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, and is not a commercial institution. (I will refer to the landlord-petitioner as the 'Society' in this judgment). It is claimed that one of the businesses of the Society specifically mentioned in clause (b) of paragraph 3 of its constitution (already reproduced verbatim in the order of reference) is to organise libraries. The plot of land in question has been given to the Society by the Government free of charge for the specific and exclusive purpose of setting up a library and is liable to be resumed by the state in case the Society does not up library building thereon. The plot in dispute is admittedly 'rented land' within the meaning of Section 2(f) of the Act as it is land which was let sep ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... merge the rented land in a building or a part thereof, as held by a Division Bench of this Court in. In fact it was in order to reconsider the correctness of certain observations made by me in the case of Smt. Dhan Devi (supra)(with which Shamsher Bahadur J., as he then was, concurred), that this reference has been made to a Full Bench. I will first take up the question of the correct interpretation and true scope of the word business as used in the relevant provisions referred to above. 21. Wherever the word business is defined in a particular statute, it is to be given the meaning ascribed to it in that definition. The question whether the word business has been used in a narrower sense or in a larger sense arises in a case where no statutory definition of that expression has been given in the relevant piece of legislation. At page 164 of Aiyar's law Lexicon of British India (1940 Edition), the word business in its larger sense has been started to mean an affair requiring attention and care' that which busies or occupies one's time, attention, and labour as his chief concern. In the same passage the word business is mentioned to convey, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ution where the inmates were provided with board and lodging whether any payment was taken or not, was a business, and came within the restrictions of the covenant. It was held that it is not essential that there should be payment in order to constitute a business; nor does payment necessarily make that a business which without payment would not be a business. In the matter of the duty on the estate of the incorporated council of law reporting for England and Wales (1889)22 QBD 279, it was held that where by the memorandum of association all the property and income of the association were applicable solely to the promotion of preparing and publishing under gratuitous professional control, reports of judicial decisions, and no part of the income could be paid as dividend, bonus or otherwise to any member, the association was established for a trade or business within the meaning of sub-section (5) of Section 11 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1885 and was, therefore, entitled to exemption from the duty imposed by that section. 23. Mr. Harbans Singh Gujral referred to some old decided cases under Section 20 of the Code of Civil Procedure and emphasised that no defin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... business for purposes of Section 20 of the Code, even when actually it is engaged in the business of transport, is to introduce a legal fiction into law, which courts have no power to do. 24. In the state of Andhra Pradesh v. M/s. H. Abdul Bakhi and Bros. AIR 1965 SC 531, Shah, J. speaking for the Court held that the expression business though extensively used, is a word of indefinite import. It was observed that in taxing statues the expression in question is used in the sense of an occupation, or profession which occupies the time, attention and labour of a person, normally with the object of making profit. It was emphasized that to regard an activity as business, there must be a course of dealings either actually continued or contemplated to be continued with a profit motive and not for sport or pleasure. Observations to that effect were made in connection with the word business as it occurs in the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act which is a taxing statute. 25. In Re Williams' Will Trusts, Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China v. Williams (1953) All ER 536 the Chancery Division was concerned with the interpretation of a stipulation in the will ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... six or seven lakhs of rupees at No. 230 Thiruvottiyur High Road, Tondiarpet, shifting of the machinery from Calicut and applying for the issue of licence to the Corporation of Madras for running the factory. The learned Judge observed that the word business had no technical meaning but is to be read with reference to the object and intent of the Act in which it occurs. It was held that the term business means an affair requiring attention and care; that which busies or occupies one's attention and labour as his chief concern; mercantile pursuits; that which one does for a livelihood; occupation; employment. In Arjan Singh Chopra v. Sewa Sadan Social Welfare Centre, Ferozepore Cantt. ILR (1967) P H 645 Mehar Singh, C. J. (as he then was) held that the activity of maintaining and running a school by engaging teachers as also some other ministerial staff comes within the scope of the term business or trade even if there is no profit motive and the building in which the school is run is a non-residential one. In P. Vairamani Ammal v. K. N. K. RM. Kannappa (1970) MLJ 689 Kailasam, J., was faced with the question as to whether the conducting of a charity which consiste ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... definition of rented land ) as well as in section 13(3)(a)(ii)(b) in the wider sense and not in the narrower sense. (3) The word business in Section 2(f) and Section 13(3)(a)(ii) of the Act need not necessarily be commercial business carried on with a profit motive. The word includes within its scope a charitable business or a dealing in the interest of the public or a section of the public. (4) The scope of the word 'business' in the aforesaid provision of the Act is not controlled or coloured by the word 'trade' occurring alongside it in Section 2(f) of the Act. Whereas every trade would be a business, the reverse of it is not true, Business is a genus, of which commercial and non-commercial business and trade are some of the species. 28. The next question that calls for decision is whether in the light of the findings on the legal aspect of the first issue which faces us, the building of a library on the rented land in question can or cannot be held to be the business of the Society. This is a pure question of fact. Taking into consideration the memorandum and Articles of Association f the Society and the terms and conditions of the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... :69 Punj LR 83 had been reported in 1967 and his application under Order 6, Rule 17 of the Code was based on a decision of the Supreme Court reported in a Law Journal of 1967. In this situation it can even be argued that he has waived the objection at the trial state. Moreover, when this case came up before my Lord the Chief Justice sitting alone and his Lordship referred it to a Division Bench an application (Civil Miscellaneous 5171 of 1970) was made by the Society praying for permission to place the constitution of the Society on the record of this revision petition for the decision of the reference as it was necessary to refer to the aims and objects of the Society. In the application it was stated that a printed copy of the constitution was shown to the learned chief Justice in Single Bench and prayer was made to admit the same into evidence but the learned Chief Justice had observed in the order of reference to Division Bench that the Society may make an application for that purpose. With that application a printed copy of the constitution of the Society and a copy of the relevant extract therefrom was filed. The Division Bench (Harbans Singh, C. J and P. C. Jain, J.) by its ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion 13 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act even if the premises happened to be rented land, the petitioners were not entitled to claim eviction because the conditions laid down in sub-clause (iii) of sub-section (3)(a) of Section 13 were not satisfied. In order to successfully seek ejectment, the petitioners had to show in terms of sub-clause (ii)(a) that the premises were required for their own use. The learned District Judge was of the view that because the petitioner wanted to construct a building on the rented land, it could not be said that they required it for their own use. In this connection the statement of the petitioner has not been taken into consideration. It was stated by Partap Singh A. W. 9 that on the land in dispute a tabela would be constructed, on top of which the accommodation would be residential. The tabela was to be build for the purpose of petitioner Raj Karan Singh carrying on his business there as he was an electrician. Raj Karan Singh himself stated that he had no shop or land for the purpose of carrying on his work of repairing and wiring as an electrician. Now, if an electrician has to carry on his work, he will have to put up some sort of st ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ase the Municipality, who was the landlord in that case, would be converting rented land to its own use. It was held that the word use had a very extensive meaning in the context of Section 13(3)(a)(ii)(a) and in the case of rented land the use must of necessity be given a wider meaning than that assigned to a residential building. The Division Bench further proceeded to hold (which view has subsequently been held by the supreme Court to be erroneous) that the definition of rented land does not preclude its being used for purposes other than business or trade. The correctness of the above view came up for consideration before the Supreme Court in AIR 1967 SC 773 : 69 Pun LR 83. Their Lordships held that in sub-clause (a) of section 13 (3)(a)(ii) of the Act the words for his own use are not qualified and at first sight it may appear that a landlord can ask for eviction from rented land if he requires it for his own use, whatever may be the use to which he may put it after eviction; but sub clause (a) has to be read in the light of sub clauses (b) and (c) of the sub-section and reading the three sub-clauses together there can be no doubt that when sub-clause (a) provides that the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... plan of the construction while he wanted to put up on the rented land after getting its possession. The landlord admitted that he had not got any sanction for building any shops on any portion of the plot. It was stated on the plan that it showed proposed plan of bungalow to be constructed on the plot in question. The appellate authority following the judgment of Division Bench of the Court in ILR (1959) P H 1131 (supra) allowed the eviction of the tenant in each of those cases. All of the three revision petitions filed against the orders of eviction were allowed, the orders of the appellate authority directing the eviction of the tenants were set aside and applications for ejectment were dismissed by the Division Bench on the ground that the landlord had not proved in any of those case that the rented land sought to be obtained from their respective tenants, was required principally for the business of the landlord. To that extent no fault can be found with the judgment. it cannot therefore be said that those cases were wrongly decided. But in the course of that judgment (with which Shamsher Bahadur, J., had agreed) I observed that the judgment of Grover, J., in Civil R ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... warrant for holding that after obtaining an eviction order, the landlord was bound to use the rented land as such and that for the purpose of carrying on his business, he could not raise any construction over it. 34. After giving thoughtful consideration to the entire matter, I am of the view that the above-quoted observations made in Dhan Devi's case have gone a little too far. In Attar Singh's case: AIR 1967 SC 773: 69 PLR 83 it has been held by their Lordships of the Supreme Court that in sub-clause (a ) of Section 13(3)(a)(ii) of the Act, the words 'for his own use' are not qualified and at first sight it may appear that a landlord can ask for eviction from rented land if he requires it for his own use, whatever may be the use to which he may put it after eviction; but sub-cl (a) has to be read in the light of sub-cls. (b) and (c) of this subsection and reading the three sub-clauses together there can be no doubt that when sub clause (a) provides that the landlord requires rented land for his own use, the meaning there is restricted to use principally for business or trade. In the wake of this decision the landlord can obtain an eviction in Section 13(3 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... urpose of sub-section (4) it will remain a rented land in the same way as it would not cease to be rented land for the purposes of the landlord merely because the tenant may put up some constructions on it. The landlord if he so desires, may remove the malba of the building in the same manner as the tenant may remove his. It was observed in Dhan Devi's case that construction on the rented land by the tenant for the purpose of doing his business will not change the character of the rented land. The tenant cannot be permitted to change the nature of the rented land nor can he commit any act which may take away the land from the definition of rented land. If that is permitted then it is bound to lead to disastrous results, e.g., a tenant may raise building over rented land for doing his own business and when an eviction application is filed under Section 13(3)(a)(ii) he may resist the same by saying that it is not a rented land and is a non-residential building and that application does not lie under Section 13(3)(a)(ii) as under the Act a non-residential building cannot be got vacated on the grounds on which rented land can be got vacated. In this manner a clever tenant by spendi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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