SURINDER SINGH SIBIA vs VIJAY KUMAR SOOD

The Supreme Court held that the term 'sufficient cause' under Section 14(3) of the Himachal Pradesh Urban Rent Control Act, 1987, must be interpreted liberally, allowing for genuine reasons such as economic hardship for a landlord to vacate a property. The Court ruled that a landlord's vacation of a building due to a requisition order cannot be deemed as 'not without sufficient cause', as the landlord is compelled by law to comply. Consequently, the Court set aside the lower courts' decisions that incorrectly applied the second proviso to Section 14(3) to deny the landlord's eviction application.