Rent Authority Can’t Invoke Special Eviction Powers In General Cases: MP High Court

The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled that a Rent Controlling Authority cannot employ special eviction powers under Chapter III-A of the MP Accommodation Control Act, 1961, unless the owner falls within specific categories recognized under Section 23-J of the Act. Justice Vinay Saraf made this observation while dismissing an appeal filed by Praveen Qureshi against Faizullah.

The court affirmed the district court's order that had overturned an eviction decision made by the Rent Controlling Authority. The High Court held that the authority's jurisdiction must be established based on the law's provisions and cannot be presumed merely because an eviction application has been filed. The case involved a property at Ganesh Dehri, Sarangpur, in Rajgarh district, where the appellant had sought eviction and rent recovery from the tenant for unpaid rent and alleged illegal activities since 2013.

The Rent Controlling Authority issued an eviction order on January 24, 2017, but the tenant appealed this decision under Section 31 of the Act. The district court upheld the appeal in September 2020, stating that the Rent Controlling Authority lacked jurisdiction as the appellant was not a special category landlord. The High Court conformed to this decision, emphasizing that the tenant's application was not filed under Chapter III-A.

The court also clarified that the appeal bar under Section 23-E only applies to validly passed orders under Chapter III-A, which was not the case here, rendering the bar inapplicable. Consequently, the second appeal was dismissed as meritless, without any determination on costs.