Rent control exemption turns on filing the ejectment suit within the period, not the later decree date.

Under the Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act notification exemption, the time condition attached to the filing of an ejectment suit, not the passing of the decree. The Supreme Court read the exemption in light of its object: landlords of newly constructed buildings were meant to retain ordinary eviction rights during the exemption period, and requiring both suit and decree within five years would defeat that purpose. Accordingly, a suit instituted within the five-year exemption period remained within the notification even if the decree was passed later, and the decree was executable.

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Issues: Whether, under the notification issued under section 3 of the Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act 1949, the exemption from section 13 required both the institution of the ejectment suit and the passing of the decree within the five-year exemption period, or only the filing of the suit within that period.

Analysis: The notification exempted decrees for ejectment in respect of newly constructed buildings that satisfied specified conditions. The object of the exemption was to permit landlords of such buildings to exercise ordinary rights of eviction without the fetters of rent control during the exemption period. Reading clause (b) with that object, the requirement as to time was attached to the institution of the suit, while no time limit was prescribed for the passing of the decree. A construction requiring both suit and decree to be completed within five years would make the exemption illusory and defeat the purpose of the notification. The language was therefore construed as requiring only that the suit be filed within the exemption period, with the decree being executable notwithstanding its being passed later.

Conclusion: The exemption applied where the suit for ejectment was instituted within the five-year period, even if the decree was passed after that period. The decree was executable, and the appeal failed.

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