TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2006 (11) TMI 646
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...., M.K. Verma, Shareen Sethi, Bhavna Sethi and Aribam Guneshwar Sharma, Advs Asha Jain Madan, P.C. Dhingra and Mukesh Jain, Advs JUDGEMENT S.B. Sinha, J. 1. Leave granted. Background facts: 2. Appellants are tenants in the premises situated within the Union Territory of Chandigarh. They were protected in terms of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (for short, 'the 1949 Act'). The Administrator of Chandigarh in exercise of his power conferred upon him under Section 3 of the 1949 Act issued a notification dated 07.11.2002 whereby and whereunder it was directed that the provisions thereof would not apply to the buildings; monthly rent whereof exceeded Rs. 1,500/-. Aggrieved by issuance of the said notification, Appellants filed writ petitions before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh, questioning the vires of Section 3 of the 1949 Act as also the validity of the said notification dated 07.11.2002 on diverse grounds. The said petitions have been dismissed. These appeals arise for the said judgments and orders. Before adverting to the questions involved in these appeals, we may notice the legislative history of the legislations in question. Ren....
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....1.1972. The said notification was struck down by the High Court on the premise that it was not declared to be an urban area. Chandigarh was declared to be an urban area in 1972. 5. The Parliament thereafter enacted the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction (Extension to Chandigarh) Act, 1974 (for short "1974 Act"), the relevant provisions whereof read as under: 1. This Act may be called the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act (Extension to Chandigarh) Act, 1974. 2. In this Act, "the Act" means the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 as it extended to, and was in force, in certain areas in the pre-reorganisation State of Punjab (being areas which were administered by municipal committees, cantonment boards, town committee or notified area committee or areas notified as urban areas for the purposes of that Act) immediately before the 1st day of November, 1966. 3. Notwithstanding anything contained in any judgment, decree or order of any court, the Act shall subject to the modifications specified in the Schedule, be in force in, and be deemed to have been in force with effect from the 4th day of November, 1972 in the Union Territory of Chandigarh as if the provisions o....
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....rlook the fact that in the original enactment, amendments had been carried out by the legislature on at least on two different occasions. (c) The Administrator having acted in furtherance of the power conferred upon him under Section 3 of the 1949 Act by the legislature itself, exercise of such power was not contrary to the legislative policy and/or preamble to the 1949 Act. (d) By reason of the said notification exempting application of the provisions of the Act in respect of the tenanted premises fetching monthly rent of Rs. 1500/- or more would not amount to repeal of the Act itself. (e) The said notification having been issued pursuant to or in furtherance of the National Housing Policy and in terms of the Model Rent Law suggested by the Government of India, the same is valid in law. (f) As the protection to the tenant was given in terms of the provisions of the Act read with the 1974 Act, the Administrator was fully empowered to withdraw the said protection in respect of a class of tenants. (g) Section 3 of the Act does not suffer from the vice of excessive delegation as thereby no unguided or unfettered power has been conferred upon the Administrator. (h) As by re....
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....t legislation insofar as it has done away with the statutory limitations imposed upon the landlords to evict the tenant except on the grounds enumerated in Section 13 of the Act as also from enhancement of rent in an arbitrary manner. 9. The contentions of Respondents, on the other hand, are: (i) Reasonable classification of 'tenants' and 'tenanted premises' is permissible in terms of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. (ii) The Objects and Reasons of the 1974 Act, inter alia, was to regulate rent of the premises situated within the urban areas and there being no provision for enhancement of rent; by reason of the said notification, the Administrator sought to achieve a balance between the interests of the landlords and those of the tenants; (iii) The notification whereby the landlord's property had been taken out of the rent control laws is in accordance with the policy of the Government of India as is reflected from the model rent laws circulated by the Ministry of Urban Development for the purpose of stimulating private investment in rental housing, and by reason thereof the balance was tilted in favour of the tenants which was causing deleterious....
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....al legislation and delegated legislation: 10. We, at the outset, would like to express our disagreement to the contentions raised before us by the learned Counsel appearing on behalf of Respondents that the impugned notification is in effect and substance a conditional legislation and not a delegated legislation. The distinction between conditional legislation and delegated legislation is clear and unambiguous. In a conditional legislation the delegate has to apply the law to an area or to determine the time and manner of carrying it into effect or at such time, as it decides or to understand the rule of legislation, it would be a conditional legislation. The legislature in such a case makes the law, which is complete in all respects but the same is not brought into operation immediately. The enforcement of the law would depend upon the fulfilment of a condition and what is delegated to the executive is the authority to determine by exercising its own judgment as to whether such conditions have been fulfilled and/or the time has come when such legislation should be brought in force. The taking effect of a legislation, therefore, is made dependent upon the determination of such fa....
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....reof. 13. The nature of delegated legislation can be broadly classified as: (i) the rule-making power; (ii) grant of exemption from the operation of a statute. In the latter category, the scope of judicial review would be wider as the statutory authority while exercising its statutory power must show that the same had not only been done within the four-corners thereof but otherwise fulfils the criteria laid down therefore as was held by this Court, inter alia, in P.J. Irani v. State of Madras and Anr. [1962]2SCR169 . 14. In Craies on Statute Law, 7th edition, it is stated at page 297: The initial difference between subordinate legislation (of the kind dealt with in this chapter) and statute law lies in the fact that a subordinate law-making body is bound by the terms of its delegated or derived authority, and that courts of law, as a general rule, will not give effect to the rules, etc., thus made, unless satisfied that all the conditions precedent to the validity of the rules have been fulfilled. The validity of statutes cannot be canvassed by the courts, the validity of delegated legislation as a general rule can be. The courts therefore (1) will require due proof that t....
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....lation to follow the policy formulation broadly and substantially and in conformity therewith. [See Secy., Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Govt. of India v. Cipla Ltd. SCC para 4.1.) 17. We may notice that in State of Rajasthan and Ors. v. Basant Nahata AIR2005SC3401 , it was pointed out: The contention raised to the effect that this Court would not interfere with the policy decision is again devoid of any merit. A legislative policy must conform to the provisions of the constitutional mandates. Even otherwise a policy decision can be subjected to judicial review. 18. In B.K. Industries and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. 1993(65)ELT465(SC) , this Court clearly held that a delegate cannot act contrary to the basic feature of the Act stating: ...The words "so far as may be" occurring in Section 3(4) of the Cess Act cannot be stretched to that extent. Above all it is extremely doubtful whether the power of exemption conferred by Rule 8 can be carried to the extent of nullifying the very Act itself. It would be difficult to agree that by view of the power of exemption, the very levy created by Section 3(1) can be dispensed with. Doing so would amount to nullifying the Cess ....
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....power, cannot at its sweet will and pleasure give a go-by to the policy guidelines evolved by itself in the matter of selection of drugs for price control. The Government itself stressed on the need to evolve and adopt transparent criteria to be applied across the board so as to minimize the scope for subjective approach and therefore came forward with specific criteria. It is nobody's case that for any good reasons, the policy or norms have been changed or have become impracticable of compliance. We may hereinafter notice the decisions relied upon by Mr. Nariman. 21. In Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education and Anr. etc. v. Paritosh Bhupeshkumar Sheth and Ors. [1985]1SCR29 , this Court was concerned with a regulation laying down the terms and conditions for revaluating the answer papers. Indisputably, there exists a distinction between regulations, rules and bye-laws. The sources of framing regulations and bye-laws are different and distinct but the same, in our opinion, would not mean that the court will have no jurisdiction to interfere with any policy decision, legislative or otherwise. 22. In Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Pvt. Ltd. and....
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.... for us to dilate on this subject as in Bombay Dyeing & Mfg. Co. Ltd. (3) v. Bombay Environmental Action Group and Ors. reported in AIR2006SC1489 , the power of judicial review on delegated legislation has been considered at some details, opining: For the foregoing reasons, we are of the opinion that in cases where constitutionality and/ or interpretation of any legislation, be it made by the Parliament or an executive authority by way of delegated legislation, is in question, it would be idle to contend that a court of superior jurisdiction cannot exercise the power of judicial review. A distinction must be made between an executive decision laying down a policy and executive decision in exercise of its legislative making power. A legislation be it made by the Parliament/Legislature or by the executive must be interpreted within the parameters of the well-known principles enunciated by this Court. Whether a legislation would be declared ultra vires or what would be the effect and Page 1243 purport of a legislation upon interpretation thereof will depend upon the legislation in question vis- the constitutional provisions and other relevant factors. We would have to bear some of t....
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.... States to adjust such legislation according to its needs. This Court and the High Court should also be relieved of the heavy burdens of this rent litigations. Tier of appeals should be curtailed. Laws must be simple, rational and clear. Tenants are in all cases not the weaker sections. There are those who are weak both among the landlords as well as the tenants. Litigations must come to end quickly. Such new Housing Policy must comprehend the present and anticipate the future. The idea of a National Rent Tribunal on an All India basis with quicker procedure should be examined. This has become an urgent imperative of today's revolution. A fast changing society cannot operate with unchanging law and preconceived judicial attitude. The said national policy was made on or about 17.7.2002. Therein, it was, inter alia , recommended that appropriate amendments be made in the existing laws and regulations so as to achieve a balance of interests of both - the landlords and tenants, which would stimulate further constructions. On the basis of series of consultations with the State Governments and various experts, the Ministry of Urban Development suggested various features of a model r....
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....00-3500 p.m. Specific mention has been made of Section 3 of the Punjab Rent Act, 1995 which has not so far been notified by Government of Punjab, but wherein the State Government would have to notify the exemption for properties that have a deemed monthly rent above certain limit, that limit being between Rs. 1500-3500/-. The Chandigarh Administration's notification limit of Rs. 1500/- is in line with the range mentioned in the Punjab Act of 1995. As such it will not be in public interest to alter this limit. It was further averred: The Act came into effect in December 1988. Large number of writ petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the amendments. The Supreme Court, in a series of judgments, has upheld the validity of these amendments. The Govt. of India has requested all the State Governments to enact amendments to rent control laws on similar lines. This was broadly endorsed, as a part of the Draft National Housing Policy, in the Conference of Housing Ministers in October 1990. A number of States have initiated amendments in this regard. In para 5 of the said recommendations, provisions have been made for grant of exemption to the....
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....ase be noted that "for purposes of release of funds the total package is to be taken into account and not any individual component". 4. You will agree that the reforms which have been mentioned in the Budget Speech and in this letter are long overdue in the urban sector. The incentive Fund only highlights them and encourages their adoption. The over-all intention is to encourage construction of housing including rental housing, to reduce transaction costs and delays in property transactions, to provide for easier availability of land for construction, and improve municipal finances with a view to developing infrastructure and civic services in our cities. The Central Government issued another letter on or about 10th December, 2002, wherein upon reference to the said notification dated 7.11.2002, a detailed report was called for as to what steps have been taken by the States concerned by the Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation. 29. As regards reforming the Rent Control Act it was stated ... In the MoA the State will undertake to carry out a range of reforms in rent control commencing, during the current year, with legislative measures to ensure that new const....
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....the city of Chandigarh and issued under Section 3 of the Act. A press note was issued on 23rd May, 1959 by the Government of Punjab exempting the city of Chandigarh from the operation of the Act for a period of 25 years, the reference whereof, has been made in a Full Bench judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Dr. Harikishan Singh v. Union of India and Ors. The said press note was found to be invalid in law by the High Court. On or about 24.9.1974 a notification was issued by the Chief Commissioner under Section 3 of the Act exempting all new buildings from the purview of the Act for a period of five years. Yet again on 5.3.1985 the Chief Commissioner granted exemptions to all buildings and rented lands belonging to the Government. We would deal with the said notification and similar other notifications issued by the State of Punjab and other States consequently a little later. The Administrator of Union Territory of Chandigarh issued the impugned notification dated 7.11.2002 directing that the provision of the Act was not applied to the buildings and rented lands whose monthly rent exceeds Rs. 1,500/-. Before adverting to the question involved in these appeals, w....
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....ntrol Act, 1960 exempting all buildings fetching rental of Rs. 1,000/- from the purview of the Act w.e.f. 26.10.1983. The validity of the said notification came up for consideration before a learned Single Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Writ Petition No. 8081 of 1986. Following a Division Bench decision of the said Court in Buywell Corporation v. Mahadevmal 1988 APLJ 1 345 the said writ petition was dismissed. Statutes exempting application of the Act: 34. Mr. Nariman has drawn our attention to the amendments in the statutes made by some other States. Section 2(g) of U.P. Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972 was inserted, exempting buildings fetching rent of more than Rs. 2000/-, by U.P. (Amendment) Act 5, 1995. Legislature of the National Capital Region of Delhi amended Section 3(c) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 which was considered to be the role model by the Central Government exempting buildings fetching rent of more than Rs. 3500/-. We would notice the decisions of the court in relation to the said amendments and in particular the amendment of Section 3(c) of Delhi Rent Control Act at an appropriate stage. Precedents dealing ....
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....ani, father of Sri P.J. Irani took a lease of the premises for a period of 13 years 11 1/2 months from 1947 and he deposited Rs. 10,000/- towards the said lease. He is therefore entitled for the benefits from 1948 onwards. (2) Had not the Rent Control Act come into force, Sri P.J. Irani would have got possession in the ordinary course as per High Court's order and the terms of the lease deed. The operation of the Act is therefore really a hardship to him. (3) Sri Chettiar is only an absentee lessee and he is having several other business in South India. (4) The conduct of Sri Chidambaram Chettiar in refusing to surrender the possession of the building to Sri P.J. Irani who had taken a valid lease under the order of the High Court is that of a hard litigant seeking to exploit the letter of the law without much regard to bona fides; and (5) Sri Chettiar had already managed to be in possession of the building for five more years than he was legitimately entitled to be. The notification was quashed by the High Court stating: Reasons 1, 2 and 4 go together to have reference to the order of the High Court in 1940 directing the Receivers to execute a lease for seven years t....
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....rned Counsel says that it may be that the decision of this Court in Irani's case concludes the question as far as Article 14 is concerned but different issues arise while dealing with the case of excessive delegated legislation. But, in our opinion, in this case the conclusion of the Court that enough guidance is afforded by the preamble and the operative provisions of the Act for the exercise of the discretionary powers vested in the Government also repels the argument regarding excessive delegation because if an Act gives sufficient guidance to an authority for the purpose of issuing a notification it cannot be said that there is excessive delegation. The notification dated 23.5.1959 has been quashed by the Punjab & Haryana High Court in Dr. Harkishan Singh v. Union of India and Ors., stating that: ... all that Section 88 of the Punjab Re-organization Act means is that any law which was in force immediately before the appointed date i.e. 01.11.1966 in the erstwhile State of Punjab or any part thereof was to continue to apply to those territories irrespective of the re-organization of that State into four successor States. ...Since the East Punjab Rent Restriction Act did....
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....By itself it is not enough. Any institution covered by Section 3(2) had to allege why it had become necessary for it to apply for exemption. It was not the case of the trust that they wanted to evict the tenants because they wanted the whole of the accommodation itself nor was it their plea that the income accruing to them was very low compared to prevailing rates of rent and that it was wholly inadequate for meeting the expenses of the trust. If grounds like these or other relevant grounds had been alleged it would have been open to the State Government to consider the same and pass an order thereon. In our view State Government did not apply its mind which it was required to do under the Act before issuing a notification and the return does not disclose any ground which was germane to the purpose of the Act to support the claim for exemption. [Emphasis supplied] 40. In Punjab Tin Supply (supra) the buildings which were granted either sewerage connection or electric connection were exempted for a period of five years by reason of the notification dated 31.1.1973. Following P.J. Irani (supra) it was held that the object of the Act can be gathered from its preamble. The legislati....
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....tively and not retrospectively. 41. In Motor General Traders and Anr. v. State of Andhra Pradesh and Ors. [1984]1SCR594 , exemption was initially granted in favour of the landlords for a period of five years but the same was being extended from time to time. In that situation, this Court was of the opinion that while earlier the exemption granted to the tenants under Section 32(b) of the Act had short life and the concession should be tolerated for a short while, but having regard to the extension granted, the same having not been done, the amendment was struck down holding that: ... This is a case where the Legislature while passing the law had given the exemption apparently as an incentive to encourage building activity. The learned counsel were not able to show how the continuance of the exemption in the case of persons who have built houses more than two decades ago will act as an incentive to builders of new houses now. If that is really so, then there is no justification to continue to have the restrictions imposed by the Act on buildings built prior to August 26, 1957 also and the whole Act should have to be repealed for if the impugned exemption can act as an incentive t....
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....ing the pendency of a proceeding as therein the High Court, while exercising its revisional jurisdiction held that the Rent controller had jurisdiction to interfere and decide the application filed by the tenant, upon arriving at a finding that the notification impugned therein had no application to the tenant's proceedings. The said view of the High Court was reversed by this Court opining that the right of a tenant could be taken away by such notification. 43. In S. Kandaswamy Chettiar v. State of Tamil Nadu and Anr. [1985]2SCR398 this Court, while following P.J. Irani, held that exemption issued in favour of those which are public trusts, was valid having regard to the provisions contained in Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1960. This Court referred to decision in Gorieb v. Fox 71 L Ed 1228 : 274 US 603 and held that there must be some rationale behind the conferral of such power on the State Government to grant exemption and stated that: ... Obviously the power to grant exemptions under Section 29 of the Act has been conferred not for making any discrimination between tenants and tenants but to avoid undue hardship or abuse of the beneficial provision....
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....- per month from the date of expiry of the notice period upto the date of handing over the possession. It was further shown that after the said notification was issued, the price of land have sky-rocketed. We, for the purpose of determination of the issue, need not go into the correctness or otherwise of the said contentions but we may only notice that they have not been specifically denied or disputed by Respondents. We, however, hasten to add that we would not intend to lay down a law that even for the purpose of enactment of an amending legislation the consequence thereof would be a relevant criteria. 46. We, however, do not agree with the submissions of the learned counsel appearing on behalf of Appellants that notification issued on the basis of rental of a building premise is bad in law. We may notice some of the decisions of this Court upholding validity of notification issued under similar provisions as under: (a) The notification dated 12.8.1974 issued by the State of Madras under Section 29 of the Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1960 exempting all buildings owned by Hindu, Christian and Muslim religious public trusts and public charitable trusts with....
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....500. The legislature, however, after considering various factors, drew the dividing line at Rs. 3500. The Delhi Rent Control Act was amended in the year 1988, the Statements of Objects and Reasons whereof was as under: For quite some time, there have been demands from the associations of house-owners as well as tenants for amendment of Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958. The Committee on Petitions of Rajya Sabha, the Economic Administration Reforms Commission, Secretaries' Committee and National Commission on Urbanisation have also recommended amendment of certain provisions of the Act. Considering these demands/recommendations as also the fact that with the passage of time, the circumstances have also changed, necessitating a fresh look at the tenant-landlord relationship, the amendment of Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 has been proposed with the following objects: (a) To rationalise the present rent control law by bringing about a balance between the interests of landlords and tenants. (b) To give a boost to house-building activity and maintain the existing housing stock in a reasonable state of repairs. (c) To reduce litigation between landlords and tenants and to ensure ex....
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.... justified. 50. As regards the nexus for the ceiling limit of Rs. 3500/-, the Court observed that the exemption, with the passage of time, may not have any nexus with the objects sought to be achieved by the statute. But, it was for the legislature to decide which particular section of people requires protection at any given point of time. The persons who, as of then, were paying less than Rs. 42,000/- per year were considered to be belonging to weaker section. The wisdom of the legislature was again emphasized in paragraph 52 thereof holding: We are unable to uphold this contention for a number of reasons. Prior to the enactment of the Rent Control Act by the various State Legislatures, the legal relationship between the landlord and tenant was governed by the provisions of the Transfer of Property Act. Delhi Rent Control Act provided protection to the tenants from drastic enhancement of rent by the landlord as well as eviction, except on certain specific grounds. The legislature by the Amendment Act No. 57 of 1988 has partially repealed the Delhi Rent Control Act. This is a case of express repeal. By Amending Act the legislature has withdrawn the protection hitherto enjoyed by....
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....ssification which does not suffer from the vice of being too vague or broad. Classification based on income is well known to law. Such classification has a reasonable relation to the twin legislative objects mentioned above. We see nothing unreasonable or irrational or unworkable or vague or unfair or unjust in the classification adopted by the impugned provision. Having noticed the notifications and the precedents operating in the field, we may notice the distinguishing features of this case. Statutory scheme: 52. It is trite that legal history can be taken into consideration for construction of a statute. Chandigarh, admittedly, is a new town. It was meant to be used as a union territory in terms of the provisions of the Punjab Resettlement Act. It enjoys a unique feature which no other town in India does, namely, capital of two States as also being an Union Territory in itself. Although it is a capital of two States, the essential functions of a legislative authority as also power of administrations are in the hands of the Central Government in terms of Article 239 of the Constitution of India. It is the Parliament alone which would legislate on its behalf. The Central Govern....
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....aged under Section 106 thereof was sufficient to bring an action for a landlord to evict his tenant. The tenant, inter alia, could raise a defence of defect in the said notice in case eviction is sought for or applicability of other provisions thereof as also non-compliance of the other requirements contained therein. 54. The Transfer of Property Act does not contain any provision empowering any court to regulate enhancement of rent. No provision existed therein also for protection of tenants from harassment at the hands of the landlords, as for example, disconnecting the electrical and water connection from the tenanted premises. The Rent Control Act, on the other hand, was enacted to protect the tenant, inter alia, in relation to the matters noticed hereinbefore. We may briefly notice the core provisions of the 1949 Act. Section 3 of the Act empowers the Administrator to issue an exemption notification. Sections 4, 5 and 6 deal with determination of fair rent. Section 10 prohibits the landlord from disconnecting electrical energy, etc. Section13 enumerates the grounds upon which the landlord seeks eviction of a tenant. The legislative policy of the State was, therefore, require....
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....erlying the statute should be gathered from reading the statute, including its preamble as a whole. Once, however, the words used in statute have a plain meaning, the courts should not busy themselves to find out the supposed intention or the policy underlying statute. {See Sardar Gurmej Singh v. Sardar Partap Singh Kairon [1960]1SCR909 .} But we are herein concerned with somewhat a different question, viz., whether the impugned notification is violative of the legislative policy. 57. In Lachmi Narain and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. [1976]2SCR785 , this Court was considering the effect of a notification issued in terms of Section 2 of the Union Territories (Laws) Act, 1950, where the words "not less than three months' notice" were substituted by the words "such previous notice as it considers reasonable" were struck down stating that: The impugned notification, dated December 7, 1957, transgress the limits which circumscribe the scope and exercise of the power conferred by Section 2 of Laws Act, at least in two respects. Firstly, the power has not been exercised contemporaneously with the extension or for the purposes of the extension of the Bengal Act to Delhi. The ....
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....umstances: (1) Where such exemption had been granted only for a limited period; (2) in respect of new buildings; (3) in respect of the government buildings, buildings belonging to the local-self government and other public sector undertakings; and (4) areas belonging to the Cantonment Board which was outside the purview of the applicability of the original act having regard to the fact that such areas of the cantonment are governed by separate Act, like Cantonment Acts. (5) Where the same would come within the purview of the delegated legislation. (6) Where the tenants or tenanted premises form a distinct and separate class. (7) Where having regard to the constitutional scheme that any State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India would not treat its tenants in an unfair and arbitrary manner despite the rent control laws being not applicable in their case; as they would be treated to be forming a separate class; and (8) Where the exemption notification is granted for a limited period or in respect of new buildings for a limited period. In other words, the Administrator will have no jurisdiction to issue a notification which would have a perman....
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....ce of the distinction between the National Housing Policy and the legislative policy. The power of exemption could be exercised having regard to the legislative intent and policy whereas the National Housing Policy could be given effect to by the legislature in modifying, varying or altogether doing away with the existing legislative policy and laying down a new policy therefore. Change of legislative policy with the aid of the National Housing Policy was not within the domain of the Administrator. It was the sole prerogative of the legislature. 63. A statute can be amended, partially repealed or wholly repealed by the legislature only. The philosophy underlying a statute or the legislative policy, with the passage of time, may be altered but therefore only the legislature has the requisite power and not the executive. The delegated legislation must be exercised, it is trite, within the parameters of essential legislative policy. The question must be considered from another angle. Delegation of essential legislative function is impermissible. It is essential for the legislature to declare its legislative policy which can be gathered from the express words used in the statute or by....
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....handigarh) Act, 1974 intentionally did not provide fixation of fair rent or increase in the fair rent and gave more protection to the tenants of Chandigarh than the tenants of State of Punjab. 66. If the rental of Rs. 50/- cannot be considered to be a cut-off mark, the same by itself would not mean, as was contended by Mr. Venugopal, that exemption granted in respect of a building the rent whereof exceeds Rs. 1500/- would meet the object of the Act as the philosophy underlying it was to protect only such buildings where only tenants belonging to weaker sections reside. Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Act are not the only provisions which provide for the protection of the tenants. What shall be the criteria to determine the question as to who would fall within the purview thereof depends upon a host of factors. Due application of mind was, thus, necessary for determining the said question. 67. Section 13 of the Act enumerates the grounds upon which the landlord may seek eviction of a tenant. Section 13-A is an exception to Section 13 in the sense that the same provides for grounds for eviction of a tenant in certain cases enumerated therein. Section 13-B enables the landlords named the....
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....g Policy, it was proposed, should be achieved step by step so as to enable the States to enact a permanent law. What was, therefore, contemplated was amendment of the existing legislation by the legislature so as to achieve partial repeal of the Act. The National Housing Policy or the Central Government did not and could not recommend that what can be done only by the legislature, can be achieved through the route of notification issued by the Administration under Section 3 of the Act. 69. Mr. Nariman contended that it is a virtual amendment by the Administrator but an Administrator cannot make an amendment. Concept of virtual amendment of a legislative act by the executive is unknown. He has a limited jurisdiction and such jurisdiction must be exercised within the parameters of law as laid down in P.J. Irani (supra). 70. In D.C. Bhatia (supra) it has clearly been pointed out that it is the legislature's function alone to make amendment and such measures are permissible so as to enable the legislature to achieve the goal as set down in terms of the national policy. The Government of Delhi did so. Even in Motor General (Supra) this Court has held that what can be done by a tem....
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....of its public/governmental character. The legislative assumption or expectation as noted in the observations of Chagla, C.J. in Rampratap Jaidayal case cannot make such conduct a matter of contract pure and simple. These corporations must act in accordance with certain constitutional conscience and whether they have so acted, must be discernible from the conduct of such corporations. In this connection, reference may be made on the observations of this Court in Som Prakash Rekhi v. Union of India reiterated in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India wherein at p. 148 this Court observed: (SCC p. 480, para 55) It is dangerous to exonerate corporations from the need to have constitutional con- science; and so, that interpretation, language permitting, which makes governmental agencies, whatever their mien, amenable to constitutional limitations must be adopted by the court as against the alternative of permitting them to flourish as an imperium in imperio. Therefore, Mr Chinai was right in contending that every action/activity of the Bombay Port Trust which constituted "State" within Article 12 of the Constitution, in respect of any right conferred or privilege granted by any statute is sub....
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....Administrator while issuing the impugned notification misdirected himself in law insofar as he failed to take into consideration that he could not have exercised any jurisdiction in terms thereof as the National Housing Policy, inter alia, contains the guidelines for the State legislatures for enactment of law and the same was not meant to be taken recourse to by the Executive Government of the State. While exercising his jurisdiction under Section 3 of the Act, the Administrator was required to apply his own mind to the relevant facts. Application of mind on the part of the Administrator was also necessary having regard to the rate of inflation and other factors including the prevalent rental in the neighbouring areas of the States of Punjab and Haryana. He further failed to take into consideration that in terms of National Housing Policy, that quantum of rent was made flexible. Only a broad guideline had been provided therefore. What was necessary to be applied was the principle and not the minimum rent specified therein. 77. For the aforementioned purpose, it was necessary to collect relevant data. Rental of Rs. 1500/- could not have been applied mechanically. The High Court ha....
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....ourt clearly held that what can be done by the legislature cannot be done by the delegate. Yet again, in B.K. Industries and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. this Court clearly opined that by reason of such notification the delegate cannot take recourse of the virtual repeal of the Act. Having regard to the fact that the rental of Rs. 1500 per month for the town of Chandigarh was too low a rent, the submissions of Appellants are of some significance that by reason thereof, over 9/10th of the tenanted premises would go out of the purview of the Rent Act. In Rattan Arya and Ors. v. State of Tamil Nadu and Anr. [1986]2SCR596 , this Court categorically observed that fixing exemption limit at Rs. 400/- had become unrealistic with the passage of time particularly in view of the hike in rents. In this case, the manner in which the rate of rent of the tenanted premise or the value of the property has gone up as evident from the data furnished by Appellants in their writ petition. The same was not denied or disputed. For the aforementioned purpose, our attention has been down to certain documents to show the effect of the said notification, i.e., that immediately thereafter exorbitant rent ....