Supreme Court upholds order to evict L&T from Bandra property occupied by it since 1958

The Supreme Court on April 27 dismissed Larsen & Toubro Limited’s (L&T) plea against its eviction from a bungalow in Mumbai’s Badra (West), bringing an end to a tenancy dispute that began over 65 years ago [L&T Limited Vs Kantilal Champalal Kothari]..A Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and NV Anjaria declined to entertain the company’s appeal challenging the Bombay High Court’s March 27 judgment.“Having heard learned counsel for the parties, we are not inclined to entertain these Special Leave Petitions. Accordingly, the Special Leave Petitions stand dismissed,” the Court said.According to Hindustan Times, the bungalow was being used by L&T's former chairman Anil Manibhai Naik as his residence for the last two decades.Following the top court's verdict, it has to be handed back to over 15 co-owners. .L&T occupied the prime bungalow property at 54 Pali Hill in Bandra under a 1961 lease deed entered into with the owners, Kothari family, for a 12-year term from 1958. The lease expired in 1970. Following the expiration, the respondent-landlords purchased the larger property in 1971 and eventually issued eviction notices in 1996 and 2000. The landlords filed for eviction under the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999, asserting that L&T was not entitled to rent protection because its paid-up share capital exceeded ₹1 crore..During the pendency of the suit, L&T purchased a 7% undivided share in the property from one of the co-owners and claimed that it had become a co-owner, thereby defeating the eviction proceedings.The landlords opposed this, arguing that the transaction was a tactic to frustrate eviction..L&T later acquired an additional 22.5% share, bringing its total interest in the larger property to 29.5%.The Bombay High Court ruled that the objection raised by a co-owner (who sold his share to L&T) to the eviction suit was "tainted with collateral purpose" and not bona fide, as it was intended solely to benefit the tenant (L&T). The Court held that a co-owner cannot withdraw consent to the eviction suit midway through the proceedings to prejudice other co-owners, as legal rights are crystallized at the time the suit is instituted. Therefore, the minority share purchase did not invalidate the maintainability of the eviction suit filed by the other landlords, the High Court ruled..Hence, the High Court on March 27 dismissed L&T’s revision application and confirmed the eviction decree. .L&T approached Supreme Court against this order. The top court on Tuesday dismissed the appeal and confirmed the eviction decree. .Larsen & Toubro Limited was represented by Senior Advocates CA Sundaram, Sanjay Jain, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ranjit Kumar along with advocates Abhinav Agrawal, Neeha Nagpal, Piyush Bhardwaj and Shivam Sengupta, instructed by Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas..The respondents were represented by Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Shyam Divan and S Niranjan Reddy with advocates Mohit D Ram, Vikas Mehta, Sunil Mittal, Anu Tewari, Udayaditya Banerjee, Nitika Grover, Yashvardhan Singh, Rajeswari Mukherjee, Amit Kumar, Vaishak Omanakuttan and Pragya Sharma..[Read Order]