DR. D.N. MALHOTRA vs KARTAR SINGH

The Supreme Court held that the respondent-landlord did not meet the criteria of 'specified landlord' as defined under Section 2(hh) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction (Amendment) Act, 1985, and thus was not entitled to maintain an eviction petition under Section 13-A. The Court clarified that to qualify for eviction, the landlord must be a specified landlord at the time of retirement, which was not the case here as the landlord retired in 1965 and the tenant was inducted in 1968. Consequently, the eviction order was set aside, and the appeal was allowed.