(1) Except as hereafter in this section provided, the rent payable for any accommodation shall be such as may be agreed upon between the landlord and the tenant.
(2) Where the rent for any accommodation has not been agreed upon, or where in the case of tenancies continuing from any date before the 1st day of October, 1946, the landlord wishes to enhance the rent agreed SBO. 1] THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTEAOHDINARX 17 upon, he may, by notice in writing, fix the annual rent at, or enhance it to an amount not exceeding, the reasonable annual rent:
Provided that the enhanced rent shall not exceed the rent, if any, payable on the 1st day of October, 1946, by more than fifty per cent, thereof:
Provided further that nothing in this section shall entitle the landlord to enhance the rent in the case of leases for a fixed term during the continuance of the term unless bo peimitted by the contract of tenancy.
(3) If any accommodation is let after the commencement of this Ordinance without the rent being agreed upon between the landlord and the tenant, the rent fixed under sub-section (2) shall be payable from the date of commencement of the tenancy and where the rent agreed upon ]S enhanced under the said sub-section, the enhanced rent shall be pay- -Me from the first -day of the month next after the month in which the tice is given.
(4) If the landlord claims that the reasonable annual rent of any accommodation is inadequate, or if the tenant claims that the reasonable annual rent is excessive or that the agreed rent is higher than the reasonable annual rent, he may institute a suit for fixation of rent in the court oi the munsift having territorial jurisdiction if the annual rent claimed or payable is five hundred rupees or less, and if it exceeds five hundred rupees, in the court of the civil judge having territorial jurisdiction or, if there is no such civil judge, in the court of the district judge:
Provided that the court shall not vary the agreed rent unless it is satisfied that the transaction was unfair and, in the case of a lease for a fixed term made before the 1st day of April, 1942, that the term has expired,
(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1), (2) and
(3), the rent fixed by the court under sub-section (4) shall, so lon^as this Ordinance remains in force, be payable by the tenant and from such date as the court may direct.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, "accommodation" includes any accommodation let on a monthly basis.