Bombay HC Dismisses Senior Citizen's Redevelopment Plea, Calls It 'Sophisticated Extortion', Imposes ₹1 Lakh Cost

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has dismissed a plea filed by a senior citizen seeking possession of a redeveloped flat and the cancellation of the Occupancy Certificate (OC) issued in favour of the developer, calling the litigation a “sophisticated form of extortion”. The court also imposed Rs 1 lakh cost on the petitioner.

A bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Kamal Khata, on June 20, rejected the petition filed by Ajit Dharia, a tenant in Suman Niwas in Borivali (West). Dharia had sought setting aside the OC granted to developer, Smile Shelters and direction to the BMC to hand over the redeveloped flat to him. The plea also sought an order against the landlord to execute an agreement on par with other tenants.

While acknowledging that tenants’ rights during redevelopment are protected under the provisions of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, the bench said the present plea was not maintainable under Article 226 of the Constitution. Article 226 of the Indian Constitution grants High Courts the power to issue writs for enforcing fundamental rights and other legal rights.

“In our view, the Petition is not maintainable,” the court said, adding: “This litigation for the Petitioner is like buying a lottery ticket that, if luck favours, might bring a windfall (even though illegitimate) but would cost no more than the expenses of litigation. This Petition is nothing else but a sophisticated form of extortion from the landlord or developer,” it observed.

The court clarified that while the landlord is indeed “duty bound to enter into an Agreement with the Petitioner on the same terms and conditions as that of the other tenants”, failure to do so gives the tenant the right to approach the jurisdictional civil court. “This is a civil dispute which must undergo a trial and cannot be decided in our jurisdiction under Article 226,” the bench noted.

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Dismissing the petition, the court imposed a cost of Rs1 lakh on the petitioner, to be paid to the Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund within four weeks. In case of non-payment, the fund’s officer may notify the state advocate, who will then seek execution of the order and recovery of the amount.