Rajan Alias Raj Kumar vs Rakesh Kumar on 7 January, 2010
I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the
record from which I have found that after assessing the provisional rent on
17.02.2010, a period of 36 days was granted to the tenant for tendering the rent
on 24.03.2010 which was declared a gezetted holiday and the case was fixed for
CR No.3878 of 2011 (O&M) -2-
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25.03.2010. The tenant was obliged to tender the rent on the said date as the
learned Rent Controller has no jurisdiction to extend the time for that purpose.
In these circumstances, I do not find any error on the part of the learned Rent
Controller because it is provided in Volume 1 Chapter 1 Part K Rule 4 of the
Rules & Orders of Punjab & Haryana High Court that on the occurrence of an
unanticipated holiday or in the event of the Presiding Officer of a Court being
absent owing to sudden illness or other unexpected cause, all cases fixed for the
day in question deemed to be automatically adjourned to the next working day
when the Presiding Officer is present and it shall be the duty of the parties or
their counsel to attend the Court on that day but witnesses are not required to
attend the Court on that day. In these circumstances, when 24.03.2010 was
declared as a gazetted holiday which was not anticipated, the case was rightly
adjourned for 25.03.2010 and on that date the tenant should have been ready
with the amount of rent to be tendered on 24.03.2010 and should have tendered
the same on 25.03.2010 when he had appeared before the learned Rent
Controller and had no right to ask for extension of time as the said power does
not vest with the Rent Controller until and unless the Rent Controller himself is
at fault. Therefore, in view of the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of
Rakesh Wadhawan v. M/s. Jagdamba Industrial Corporation, 2002(1)
R.C.R. (Rent) 514 and a Division Bench judgment of this Court in the case of
Rajan alias Raj Kumar v. Rakesh Kumar, 2010(2) P.L.R. 201, the learned
Courts below have rightly passed the order of eviction against the tenant.