Tenancy protection for permanent structures extended to pending eviction appeals under the Assam urban tenancy law.

Section 5 of the Assam Non-Agricultural Urban Area Tenancy Act, 1955 was held to apply to pending eviction proceedings and appeals, because section 2 extended the Act to tenancies created before or after commencement and showed an intention to protect pre-existing rights. The protection in section 5 was construed as covering permanent structures already built within five years of the tenancy contract, and the statutory bar operated against eviction itself, not merely against new suits. A pending appeal was treated as a continuation of the suit, so section 5(1)(a) governed the appellate proceedings. The tenants therefore received statutory protection and the appeals failed.

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Issues: Whether section 5 of the Assam Non-Agricultural Urban Area Tenancy Act, 1955 applied to eviction proceedings and appeals pending when the Act came into force.

Analysis: Section 2 made the Act applicable to all non-agricultural tenancies whether created before or after its commencement, indicating that the legislature intended the protective provisions to extend to pre-existing tenancies and affect vested rights. Section 5 was framed to protect tenants who had built permanent structures within five years from the date of the tenancy contract, and its language showed that it was meant to cover constructions already made before the Act. The prohibition is against eviction itself, not merely against instituting fresh suits, and an appeal pending before the lower appellate court is a continuation of the suit. On that construction, the protection under section 5(1)(a) governed the pending appellate proceedings.

Conclusion: Section 5 applied to the pending proceedings, and the tenants were entitled to the statutory protection. The appeals therefore failed.

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