Ambika bhardwaj
Published On: January 22, 2022 at 16:54 IST
It was Ruled by a Bench of Justices G.S.Patel and Madhav J. .Jamdar of the Bombay High Court that transferring tenancy does not amount to the formation of a new tenancy under the MHADA Act (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) and Development Control Regulations, 1991.
The Petitioner is one of the tenants and occupants of a number of structures that were to be redeveloped. Development Control Regulation or DCR 33(7) read with Appendix-III to the Development Control Regulations, 1991 would govern the redevelopment of the two structures.
One of the original tenants gave her tenancy Rights of one of the rooms to the Petitioner in 2010. The Repair Board’s Chief Officer held that because the developer had acquired the 22 tenancies or occupancies from the old tenants and inducted 22 new tenants, these tenants could not be approved.
He believed that DCR 33(7) only allows for the rehabilitation of elderly tenants/occupants. Furthermore, the Repair Board’s Chief Officer had mentioned in its No Objection Certificates (NOC) that 22 different private limited companies listed as “newly inducted occupants” should be regarded as a single occupier in control of the owner.
The Petitioner argued before the Bombay High Court that there is no restriction in DCR 33 (7) or Appendix-III against the exchange of tenancies.
The development of new tenancies is prohibited. It was also claimed that the number of tenancies had not gone up significantly because of the transfer of 22 old tenancies. No original tenancies have been subdivided, and no new tenancies have been formed.
It was requested by the Petitioner that MHADA should be directed to de-club the combined premised and the Petitioner should be treated as a separate tenant.
The Respondents, on the other hand, contended that the purpose of DCR 33 (7) is to rehabilitate old tenants, and thus these transfers should be regarded as new tenancies.
The Judgement orders MHADA to release a revised NOC in accordance with the instructions, removing the condition of clubbing the tenancies and classifying them all as a single residential unit and owner-occupied.