The appellant (plaintiff) challenged the dismissal of his eviction suit against Octavius Tea and Industries Ltd., which was a tenant under a registered 99-year lease deed dated March 5, 1965. The appellant argued that the lease was governed by the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, as it predated the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997, and was terminated by a notice in 2005. The respondents contended that Section 3(c) of the Act of 1997, as retrospectively amended from July 10, 2001, brought the tenancy within the protection of the Act of 1997. The Calcutta High Court examined the scope of Section 3(c) of the Act of 1997 before and after its amendment, noting that the unamended provision exempted both pre- and post-commencement registered leases from the Act's protection, while the amended provision restricted the exemption only to leases registered after commencement of the Act with the tenant's recorded consent. The court's analysis focused on whether the 1965 registered lease fell within the Act of 1997's protective ambit given the retrospective amendment.