Rent reduction under tenancy law turned on whether the price fall was caused by a temporary factor; the appeal succeeded.

The Calcutta HC considered whether a fall in the average local prices of staple food-crops was caused by a temporary factor within Section 38(1)(b) of the Bengal Tenancy Act, and whether refusal of rent reduction could stand. It treated the existence and general cause of the price fall as factual findings, but whether the accepted facts met the statutory requirement of a non-temporary cause as a mixed question of fact and law. Judicial notice of the world economic depression was permitted, but its characterisation as temporary was rejected, and the premises used below for discretion under Section 38(2) and the commutation factors were found erroneous. The appeal succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the fall in the average local prices of staple food-crops was due to a temporary cause within the meaning of Section 38(1)(b) of the Bengal Tenancy Act, and whether the denial of rent reduction could stand.

Analysis: The Court held that the existence of a fall in prices and the general cause of that fall could be treated as findings of fact, but whether the accepted facts satisfied the statutory requirement of a cause that was not temporary involved a mixed question of fact and law. The Court also held that judicial notice could be taken of the world economic depression, but the characterisation of that depression as temporary was unsustainable on the reasoning adopted below. The supposed authority relied upon below was misread, the supposed rising tendency in prices was not established, and the premises on which discretion was exercised under Section 38(2) were erroneous. The Court further held that the comparison periods adopted below for the commutation factors were arbitrary and that the earlier decision on discretion was influenced by an conception of the relevant statutory factors.

Conclusion: The finding that the world economic depression was a temporary cause could not stand, and the appeal succeeded.

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