Supreme court set public premise rent rules in 2015

Mumbai: With the Bombay high court relying on a 2015 SC order to decide the Dr Preeti Bhatt case, the said order has become the roadmap for deciding complex tenancy cases in public premises. The SC order categorises tenants as those who were occupants before 1958 and those who got occupation after 1958 but before the house became a public premise.

The order was relied upon to decide the case of Dr Suhas Pophale, a lawful tenant of the Indian Mercantile Insurance Company (MIC) as per the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999. Dr Pophale got a license from the original tenant in 1972 and MIC was intimated about the same. The central government took over the management of MIC in 1971 and merged it with Oriental Insurance Company (OIC), a government company, on January 1, 1974. In 1993 however, the OIC estate officer issued an eviction order against Dr Pophale. The city civil court and Bombay HC also affirmed the order later. Hence, Dr Pophale preferred an appeal against the HC order in the SC.

After hearing the case, the SC held that a tenant protected under the state rent act, prior to the merger of the insurance company with a government company, could only be removed by procedure under the state rent act. Thus, any legislation enacted thereafter could not be retrospectively applied to such tenants unless specifically provided for in the new legislation. The SC elaborated that the relevant date for any premise to become public would be September 16, 1958.