Court stays eviction order of PU’s Kwality Restaurant and Café
Rajnish Garg, Additional District Judge, Chandigarh, has stayed the operation of an eviction order issued to Kawality Restaurant and Café, Panjab University. The estate officer of the university in its order dated September 19 had directed the restaurant owner to pay all arrears of rent within one month. The order says that failure to comply with the order will result in eviction proceedings as per the provision of Public Premise (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act-1958.
The estate officer passed the order on an application filed by PU, alleging that the owner had not complied with the terms and conditions of the lease and also failed to pay the arrears of the rent.
The restaurant has been running on the premises for the last more than 50 years. Aggrieved over the order, the owner had filed an appeal under Section 9 of the Public Premises Act, 1971, before a local court through advocates Varun Katyal and Ekta Chauhan. Along with the appeal, the owner had also filed an application praying for stay on the operation of the order till the disposal of the appeal.
The owner said that she had been running the business since 1970 on the basis of the lease deed. The last deed was executed on August 1 on a monthly lease of Rs 30,320 and the same was to be enhanced by 5 per cent every year. She alleged that the PU was pressurising her to sign the new lease and denied any arrears of rent.
She said that the estate officer without acting impartially had issued the eviction order.
Counsel for appellant submitted that the estate officer was not competent to pass the order. Even the property was not covered under the Public Premises Act.
Moreover, appellant was a tenant for many years and had paid excess rent to the university.
After hearing the arguments, the court said that in view of the submissions made by the counsel for the appellant and without going into the other merits of the case, the operation of the order dated September 19 had been stayed till further orders. The court has also issued notices to the estate officer and PU for January 15, 2025, on the appeal and stay application.
