Fixed term lease protection limits eviction under rent control law unless a valid statutory ground is established.

A subsisting fixed term contractual lease is not displaced by the Karnataka Rent Control Act, 1961, and eviction can be sought only on a statutory ground expressly available under Section 21. The non obstante clause in Section 21 overrides only inconsistent contractual grounds of eviction; it does not extinguish the lease or permit eviction merely because the landlord relies on a contractual termination basis. Dhanapal Chettiar was confined to notice under Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act and did not authorise eviction during the lease term without a valid statutory ground. A petition under Section 21(1)(h) is therefore not maintainable unless the statutory requirement of bona fide need is established within the Rent Act scheme.

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Issues: Whether eviction under Section 21(1)(h) of the Karnataka Rent Control Act, 1961 is maintainable against a tenant in possession under a subsisting fixed term contractual lease.

Analysis: Section 21 of the Karnataka Rent Control Act, 1961 begins with a non obstante clause, but its effect is confined to overriding contractual grounds of eviction that are inconsistent with the statutory grounds enumerated in the proviso. The Rent Control Act protects tenants from eviction otherwise than on the specified grounds, but it does not obliterate the lease itself or render every fixed term lease ineffective in totality. The decision in Dhanapal Chettiar was concerned with the necessity of notice under Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act and did not lay down that a subsisting fixed term lease could be curtailed merely because a statutory ground under the Rent Act was pleaded. A landlord may seek eviction during the currency of a fixed term lease only if a ground under Section 21 is made out, and not merely because the contract provides for lease termination on some other basis.

Conclusion: A petition for eviction under Section 21(1)(h) is not maintainable merely because the landlord asserts reasonable and bona fide requirement while the fixed term lease is still subsisting; the statutory ground must operate within the limits of the Rent Act and the lease term remains protected unless a valid statutory ground is established.

Ratio Decidendi: A fixed term contractual lease is not obliterated by the Rent Control Act, and eviction during its subsistence can be sought only on a ground expressly available under the statute, not on contractual stipulations inconsistent with the statutory scheme.

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