New Delhi, Dec. 12 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday held that a person in unauthorised occupation of "public premises" cannot seek protection under the state rent control legislation as the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 will prevail over the rent law applicable to that state. A bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria set aside a 2014 verdict by a two-judge bench of the top court in Suhas H Pophale case for ignoring this principle laid down by a 1990 Constitution bench judgment in Ashoka Marketing case. The Pophale case created a distinction and protected those premises leased on rent prior to September 16, 1958 - the date when the Public Premises Act, 1971 became retrospectively in operat...