Current user of land controls "premises" status under rent control law, enabling eviction once agricultural use has ceased.

Land that was agricultural when let but had ceased to be agricultural by the date of the eviction petition falls within "premises" under Section 3(n) of the Karnataka Rent Control Act, 1961. The statutory character is assessed when protection under the Act is invoked or enforced, not frozen to the date of letting. Read as beneficial legislation governing landlord-tenant relations, the Act is applied so as to advance the remedy. On that interpretation, such land can attract eviction proceedings under Section 21, and the earlier contrary view was disapproved.

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Issues: Whether land that was agricultural at the time of letting but had ceased to be agricultural by the date of the eviction petition falls within the definition of "premises" under Section 3(n) of the Karnataka Rent Control Act, 1961 and is therefore amenable to eviction proceedings under Section 21 of that Act.

Analysis: The definition of "premises" in Section 3(n) covers any land not used for agricultural purposes and does not freeze that character to the date of letting. The determining point of time is when the protection of the Act is claimed or when the right under the Act is enforced. The scheme and object of the Act, being beneficial legislation for landlord-tenant relations, require the definition to be read in a manner that advances the remedy rather than defeats it. On that approach, land which is no longer agricultural at the time of the eviction petition satisfies the statutory definition, and the earlier view to the contrary was overruled.

Conclusion: Such property is "premises" within the meaning of Section 3(n) of the Karnataka Rent Control Act, 1961 and can attract Section 21 of the Act.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered in favour of treating the property as premises once it ceased to be agricultural by the date of the eviction petition, and the earlier contrary view was disapproved.

Ratio Decidendi: For purposes of the Karnataka Rent Control Act, the character of land as "premises" depends on its user when the statutory protection or enforcement is invoked, not on its user at the time of letting.

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