If you can't give him alternate accommodation, put him up at Taj hotel: Bombay High Court admonishes MMRDA over short eviction notice

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday admonished the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for issuing an eviction notice that gave only 48 hours time to a man to clear the premises while also not providing him any alternate accommodation. [Shobhnath Ramchandra Singh v. MMRDA & Anr.] .A division bench of Justices GS Patel and Neela Gokhale was informed by the lawyer representing the evictee (petitioner) that after the matter was mentioned before the Court, the MMRDA had locked the flat where he was residing with his family. .The Court, in turn, questioned the MMRDA on how they could expect the petitioner and his family to vacate the unit without any alternate accommodation and said that the authority should put up the family at the Taj hotel.“What is the petitioner supposed to do (if not come to court)? Beg near Flora Fountain? If you cannot give him an alternate accommodation, then put him up at Taj hotel. He will stay there. And when I say Taj hotel, I am talking about the old Taj hotel," the Court added, in a lighter vein..The petitioner, Shobhnath Singh, approached the Court challenging a notice issued by the MMRDA on February 8, 2023, asking Singh to vacate his flat, failing which he and his family would be forcibly removed. The petitioner submitted that he did not have an alternate accommodation and that the forcible dispossession was unreasonable..In the petition, filed through KH Giri Associates, Singh submitted that he was residing at a different location till 2017 and was asked to vacate their house by an entity named SPARC Samudaya Nirman. SPARC allegedly informed Singh that it was implementing slum rehabilitation project and constructing an underground water tank on a portion of land that almost touched Singh’s residence at the time. The company had offered alternate accommodation to Singh temporarily till completion of this project. This was the present accommodation from which the MMRDA sought to evict Singh, the plea informed.Singh added that he had been assured that the tenement that he and his family were being shifted to would be confirmed and permanently allotted to them with no risk of vacating. A few months later, his old house was demolished and the present house was all that he had to accommodate his family, he told the Court.Advocate Aparna Patkar, appearing for MMRDA, countered that Singh was not entitled to the flat in which he was presently residing with his family. She further informed the Court that he had submitted an undertaking to MMRDA that he will vacate the flat by February 13, 2023. She added that the flat was to be granted to another project for rehabilitation. Hence, the notice of eviction was served..After the hearing yesterday, the Court asked MMRDA to file a response in the matter by March 10, 2023. The Court also ordered the MMRDA to ensure the removal of the lock on the flat occupied by Singh by 5 pm on Wednesday. No coercive action should be taken against the petitioner till an alternate accommodation is given, the Court added.