Case: H.D. Vora Vs. State of Maharashtra and Others

The facts giving rise to this appeal are few and may be briefly stated asRukmanibai was the owner of a building bearing House No. 65, Police Station Road, Ville Parle West, Bombay. The ground floor of this building comprised of a flat which was in the occupation of one N.C. Shah as a tenant and since N.C. Shah was going to vacate the flat, Rukmanibai gave intimation of the proposed vacancy to the State Government and requested the State Government to allot the premises to the appellant who was her nearest relative. The appellant also addressed a letter dated 12th March 1951 to the Chief Officer of the Accommodation Department of the Government of Bombay requesting that he should be allotted the flat which was going to be vacated by N.C. Shah. It appears however that the request of the appellant was turned down by the State Government and ultimately the flat was requisitioned by an order dated 9th April 1951 made by the State Government in exercise of the powers conferred under clause (a) of sub-section (4) of section 6 of the Bombay Land Requisition Act 1948. This order of requisition did not set out the public purpose for which the flat was requisitioned. Now curiously enough, though it was decided by the State Government not to allot the flat to the appellant and his application for allotment was specifically reacted the Assistant Controller of Accommodation passed an order on 25th April 1951 allotting the requisitioned flat to the appellant and pursuant to the order of allotment, the appellant entered into occupation of the flat. The appellant thereafter paid rent to Rukmanibai from time to time but the payment of rent was very irregular and the appellant committed several defaults in payment of rent with the result that not less than seven owners had to be passed by the Accommodation Department of the Government of Bombay directing the appellant to vacate the flat because his chronic de faults. Ultimately, however, each time no action for eviction was taken by the Controller of Accommodation, presumably because the appellant must have paid up the rent. It is significant to note that in the year 1964 the appellant requested the Controller of Accommodation to derequistion the flat and to allow him to become direct tenant of Rukmani Bai but his application was rejected by letter dated 25th March 1964. The appellant also thereafter in the year 1979 applied to the Controller of Accommodation for sanction to erect a kitchen platform in the flat but this application was turned down by a letter dated 20th March 1979 addressed by the Controller of Accommodation. The appellant throughout this period continued to occupy the flat as an allottee under the order of requisition and paid rent to Rukmanibai from time to time. thought irregularly.The building in which the requisitioned flat was situate, was purchased by the 3rd respondent from Rukmanibai on 3 0th May 1973. The 3rd respondent, after purchase of the building, requested the State Government to derequisition the flat inasmuch as the allotment of the flat in favour of the appellant could not be for a public purpose. The State Government did not pay any heed to this request of the 3rd respondent with the result that the 3rd respondent was constrained to file writ petition No. 1210 of 1980 in the High Court of Bombay challenging the validity of the order of requisition and contending that it could not survive for such a long period of time and the State Government was therefore bound to derequisition the flat.

Reasoning: Here in the present case the order of requisition was made as far back as 9th April 1951 and even if it was made for housing a homeless person and the appellant at that time fell within the category of homeless person, it cannot be allowed to continue for such an inordinately long period as thirty years. We must therefore hold that the order of requisition even if it was valid when made, ceased to be valid and effective after the expiration of a reasonable period of time. It is not necessary for us to decide what period of time may be regarded as reasonable for the continuance of an order of requisition in a given case, because ultimately the answer to this question must depend on the facts and circumstances of each case but there can be no doubt that whatever be the public purpose for which an order of requisition is made the period of time for which the order of requisition may be continued cannot be an unreasonably long period such as thirty years. The High Court was, therefore, in any view of the matter, right in holding that in the circumstances the order of requisition could not survive any longer and the State Government was bound to revoke the order of requisition and deregulation the flat and to take steps to evict the appellant from the flat and to hand over vacant possession of it to the 3rd respondent.Therewas also one other contention urged on behalf of the appellant in a desperate attempt to protect his possession of the flat and that contention was, since he had paid rent of the flat to Rukmanibai and such rent was accepted by her, he had become a direct tenant of Rukmanibai and the order of requisition had become totally irrelevant so far as as his possession of the flat is concerned.This contention is, in our opinion, wholly unfounded. The appellant admittedly came into occupation of the flat as an allottee under the order of requisition passed by the State Government and even if any rent was paid by the appellant to Rukmanibai and such rent was accepted by her, it did not have the effect of putting an end to the order of requisition. The appellant was an allottee of the flat under the order of requisition and he was liable to pay compensation for the use and occupation of the flat to the State Government and the State Government was in its turn liable to pay compensation to Rukmanibai for the requisitioning of the flat and if, therefore, instead of the appellant paying compensation to the State Government and the State Government making payment of an identical amount to Rukmanibai, the appellant paid directly to Rukmanibai with the express or in any event implied assent of the State Government, the order of requisition could not cease to be valid and effective. It did not matter at all whether the appellant described the amount paid by him to Rukmanibai as rent, because whatever was done by him was under the order of requisition and so long as the order of requisition stood, his possession of the flat was attributable only to the order of requisition and no payment of an amount described as rent could possibly alter the nature of hi s occupation of the flat or make him a tenant of Rukmanibai in respect of theare therefore of the view that the High Court was right in allowing the writ petition and directing the State Government and the Controller of Accommodation to deregulation the flat and to take steps to evict the appellant and to hand over vacant and peaceful possession of the flat to the 3rd respondent.