THE SUPREME Court last week directed the Mumbai Police to vacate two flats in south Mumbai within four months and hand them over to the owners — a Shroff family, which had in the 1940’s given the flats to the Mumbai Police on rent.
Currently, the Mumbai Police are using the two flats measuring 600 sqft each, located at Amar Bhavan building at Opera House in south Mumbai, to house their staff. The police were earlier paying a monthly rent of Rs 700 for each flat.
While passing the order on Tuesday, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said, “We set aside the impugned order passed by Bombay High Court and allow the original writ petition preferred by the applicants. We grant four months time to the respondents from today to hand over vacant and peaceful possession of both flats to the appellants.”
“Shri Nitin Pawar DCP HQ Mumbai Police who is personally present in the court shall file an affidavit in the form of an undertaking that the vacant and peaceful possession of the two flats shall be handed over to the applicants within a period of four months. Such undertaking shall be filed within one week before the registry office,” the bench said.
It further told the police that it had the money and the power to move their staff some other place and pay the rent. “It has come to our notice today… that these two flats are not utilised as offices of the police department but two families are residing in these flats,” the bench observed orally.
“We are happy we were able to do justice to the appellants who have been frantically trying to get back their property which the state occupied way back in 1940,” the bench said.
The SC order mentioned, “The High Court should have kept the year in mind i.e. 1940. This country was ruled by the Britishers. The country was fighting hard to seek independence from the Britishers. Bombay in the year 1940 was altogether different. At the relevant point of time, the department perhaps might have persuaded the appellants or their predecessors in title to part with the possession of the two flats for the Police Department. However, it has been now 84 years that the Police Department has been in occupation and use of the two flats. Look at the conduct of the department. We are informed that past eighteen years even rent has not been paid.”
Story continues below this ad
Flats in this building, like several others in south Mumbai, were requisitioned under the then Defence of India Act, which allowed the British rulers of the time to take possession of private properties. After obtaining freedom, several of these flats were then given to the Mumbai Police personnel at a nominal rent.
However, over the decades, the rent amount remained nominal and the families or their heirs sought the return of the property. As per the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999, a landlord is not allowed to take possession of any premises as long as the tenant pays for it or is willing to pay rent.
A senior police officer said police do not have a record of the number of such flats and hence in several cases rent is not paid, which can become a ground for the landlord to take the flat back.
Several landowners like the Shroff family in this case go into litigation seeking return of property as rent is not paid. In their case, while the Bombay High Court refused to entertain their plea asking them to approach the appropriate forum — Court of Small Causes — the Supreme Court granted the family relief.
Story continues below this ad
In a similar case, the Bombay High Court had in 2023 directed the Maharashtra government to hand over two south Mumbai flats near Metro cinema to a 93-year-old woman that were occupied by the legal heirs of a former government official.
Heirs of the government official had appealed the High Court order before the Supreme Court which upheld the High Court order.
Several such flats are currently in litigation with the property owners seeking their flats back on grounds that rent is unpaid. What further makes it difficult for the police is the fact that they do not have the necessary papers in the form of rent agreement signed decades back.
A senior police officer requesting anonymity said, “We are awaiting the Supreme Court order copy following which we will decide if we should go for a review petition in the SC.”
Story continues below this ad
The officer added, “We have also asked all five regions in the city police to provide a list of such properties so that we can take necessary action.”
The officer added that in the absence of accommodation in the city, the officers have to move to far flung places and spend several hours a day travelling to the city.