Law: Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance, 1979

Section: 2(h), 3 & 15(2) (iii) (b)

[Majority view] (a) Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance (XVII of 1979)--------- ----------Ss. 2(h), 3 & 15(2) (iii) (b)---------Hotel premises---------Applicability of Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance, 1979---------Rent Controller, Justiceurisdiction of---------Premises let out to tenant for commercial/residential purposes---------Tenant using the premises for running a hotel---------Whether tenant wrong/unauthorized user of premises---------Whether jurisdiction of Rent Controller ousted---------Rented premises, in the present case, which was being unilaterally used by the tenant as a hotel, did not fall within the meaning of "hotel" as used in S.2(h) of Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance, 1979---------Written lease agreements executed between the parties proved that at no point in time the demised premises was ever let out to the tenant as a "hotel"---------Rented premises was let out for the purpose of business/residential use, however the subsequent change in its use for running a hotel by the tenant, that too unilaterally, would not take away the jurisdiction of the Rent Controller---------Provisions of the Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance, 1979 were thus duly applicable to the present case---------Tenant had himself submitted to the jurisdiction of the Rent Controller by filing an application for deposit of rent before the Rent Controller---------Tenant was, thus, estopped from his conduct to challenge the jurisdiction of the Rent Controller---------[Per Faisal Arab, Justice: Tenant by pleading that rental premises on account of its use as a hotel was excluded from the provisions of Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance, 1979 , was denying himself the protection of rent laws, and was relegating his status from a tenant to a mere licensee---------Tenant had acquired interest in the premises on monthly rental basis in his capacity as tenant, thus his status could not be converted to that of a licensee---------Only legal remedy to seek eviction of tenant was to file an eviction application under the provisions of Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance, 1979]---------[Per Maqbool Baqar, Justice. (Minority view): Premises was leased out to the tenant for "business/residential'…