Strict construction of widow's eviction right bars transferee landlord from invoking immediate possession against an existing tenant.

Section 14D of the Delhi Rent Control Act is a strict, limited remedy for widows and applies only where the premises were let out by the widow or by her husband. It cannot be extended to a widow who acquired the tenanted premises by sale or other transfer from a person other than her husband, because the wording of the provision and its placement alongside Sections 14B, 14C and 14(6) show a deliberate restriction on the class entitled to immediate possession. On that construction, a transferee widow cannot invoke Section 14D against a pre-existing tenant, and eviction based on that provision is not maintainable.

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Issues: Whether Section 14D of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 applies to a widow who acquired the premises by transfer and whose husband had not let out the premises, and whether such a widow can seek immediate possession against a pre-existing tenant.

Analysis: Section 14D confers a special right on a limited class of widows and must be construed strictly because it operates as an exception to the general tenant-protective scheme of the Act. The wording "the premises let out by her, or by her husband" is deliberate and cannot be treated as redundant. Read in context with Sections 14B and 14C, the legislature used different expressions to restrict the remedy to the specified class. The Court also reconciled Section 14D with Section 14(6), which bars a transferee landlord from seeking eviction on the relevant ground for five years after acquisition. The Court declined to read Section 14D broadly so as to include a widow who became landlord through purchase or transfer of premises let out by someone else.

Conclusion: Section 14D does not apply to a widow who acquired the tenanted premises by sale or transfer from a person other than her husband, and such a widow cannot invoke that provision against a pre-existing tenant.

Final Conclusion: The landlord's eviction application was not maintainable under Section 14D, and the orders of eviction and refusal of leave to defend could not stand.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory remedy granting immediate possession to a widow is confined to premises let out by the widow or by her husband, and the court cannot extend that class by ignoring express limiting words or by reading the provision contrary to its text and scheme.

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