MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has directed the senior inspector of N M Joshi Marg police station to register an FIR and conduct a probe into the alleged connivance of Mhada and the police with a developer to “forcibly and without authority” evict a woman and her family from transit accommodation in Lower Parel.
“Such highhanded actions on the part of the statutory authorities, who have acted at the behest of the respondent (developer) cannot be countenanced. A message must go out that even the authorities cannot take the law into their own hands…and that too to facilitate a builder/developer to evict a lady who was admittedly a tenant,” said Justices Mahesh Sonak and Kamal Khata on Wed. They sought a status report on Oct 16.
In August 2016, Suganda Kharat vacated her tenanted premises and was placed in transit accommodation. Developer Alfa Mana Realtors (P) paid her Rs 32 lakh out of the Rs 70 lakh promised for surrendering tenancy. Kharat filed a suit in Feb 2018 challenging surrender of her tenancy. On Nov 7, 2023, Mhada (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) sought police protection to evict her citing the developer’s complaint that she was a trespasser in the transit accommodation. On Dec 14 Kharat and family were evicted.
In court, Mhada denied that the police had forcibly evicted Kharat and said that the developer had handed over the keys for transit accommodation. The developer claimed Kharat herself vacated the transit room as per a mutual pro-tem arrangement.
The judges said it was at the developer’s request that Kharat vacated the tenanted premises. They referred to her pending suit to uphold her tenancy, the Rs 38 lakh due to her and Mhada’s action in getting police protection for her eviction. “After all these, it is too much to believe that the petitioner, a lady, would voluntarily vacate the transit accommodation,” the judges said.
They said Mhada and the developer’s affidavits “hardly inspire any confidence” and have “perjured themselves.” The “modus operandi” was to forcibly secure Kharat’s eviction to pressure her into settlement.
Kharat’s advocates Nihar Chitre and Ketan Dhavle said she and her family suffered extreme hardship due to forcible eviction. Mhada has now offered a room in Mazgaon but the developer would have to pay Rs 30,000 rent. As interim relief, the judges directed Mhada to give Kharat possession of the premises on Thursday and the developer to pay12 months advance rent.
