LexHINDUSTAN PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD. & ANR. versus SHYAM CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING SOCIETY & ORS.
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A a c HINDUSTAN PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD. & ANR. v. SHYAM CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING SOCIETY & ORS. SEPTEMBER 19, 1988 [A.P. SEN AND B.C. RAY, JJ.] Constitution of India-Arts. 226/ 139-A-Sections 15A and 28- Maharashtra Act 17 of 1975-Came into force on March 15, 1974-- Subsisting Licensee on Feb. 1, 1973~Person in occupation acquires starus of'deemed tenant'-Entitled to protection u/s. 15A of the Act. Esso (Acquisition of Undertakings in lndia).Act 1974/Lube India Ltd., Esso Standard Refining Company of India Ltd. Amalgamation order 1974. ·· Sections 3, 5 and 19-Esso Standard Refining Co., taken over by I:) Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.-Subsisting Licence in exis- tence as on Feb. 1, 1973-Held Hindustan Petroleum Corpn. Ltd. entitled to statutory protection u/s. 15A of the Bombay Rent Act. The Esso Eastern Inc., a Company Organised and existing under U.S. Laws was engaged in the business of distributing and marketing E petroleum products manufactured by Esso Standard Rer.ning Co. of India Ltd. and Lube India Ltd. and had established places of business in India. In order to provide residential accommodation to its emp- loyees the Co. had taken on leave and licence basis, Flat No. 35 in Block No. 8 in the Housing Colony known as Shyam Niwas situate at Warden Road now called Bhulabhai Desai Road, Bombay, for a period of one y:: year in terms of the agreement in writing dt. 28th Nov., 1968 from one Smt. Nanki M. Malkani, a member oftbe Co-operative Society. On 4th Dec., 1%8 Respondent No. l Shyam Cooperative Housing Society Ltd. passed a resolution admitting Petitioner No.·2 T.J. Mansuknani an employee of the Co. as a nominal member of the Society though he was not the Iicencee. The period of lease was initially renewed at the instance of the licensor O for one year. On 29th Nov., 1971, Ms. Malkani wrote a .letter to the Company saying that the agreement for lease and licence was due to expire on that date; hence the period of licence be renewed yearly, from time to time for 3 years on the expiry of each term of the licence. On this basis the lease period stood extended till Nov. 30, 1973. Ill the mean- while the State of Maharashtra enacted Act 17 of 1973. Since the Esso ft Stand_a_rd Inc. was in fact in occupation of the flat in qnestion as on ist 44 ' I I HINDUSTAN PETROLEUM CORPN. v. HOUSING SOCIETY 45 Feb., 1973, it acqµired the status of a tenant under section ISA of the Act. On 13th March, 1974, the Esso (Acquisition of Undertakings in India) Act, 1974 came into force and from that date hy virtue of sub- section (1) of section S of the Act, the Central Govt. was deemed to be · the tenant of the flat in question. By a letter of 9th April, 197S, sent by Ms. Malkani Res. 2, to the Petr. she affirmed the terms and conditions of the licence and. by her subsequent communications she informed that the Petr. who is successor-in-interest of Esso Eastern Inc. to whom she had given the flat continues in possession on the same terms and conditions of the lease. On 11th Sept., 1980, the Society passed a resolution calling upon A B c the Petr .-Corporation'• to vacate the premises and asked Ms. Malkani, Res. 2 for occupying the flat herself. Upon the Petitioner's failure to vacate the premises the Society on September IS, 1986 filed an applica- tion under section 91(1) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Society Act D 1960 before the 3rd Co-operative Court Bombay, for eviction of the petitioner and its employee. On January 1981, Petitioner No. l permit- ted its another employee to occupy the flat. The 3rd Cooperative Court after considering evidence led by the parties, dismissed the claim of the Society holding inter alia that Esso Eastern Inc. was in occupation of the flat in dispute under a subsisting licence as on Feb. 1, 1973 and thus got E the protection available to a licencee under sec. ISA of the Bombay Rent Act and that the said protection could not be taken away merely by the Society making a claim for eviction u/s 91(1) of the Act. The Society being aggrieved appealed to the Maharashtra State-,, Co-operative Appellate Court. The appellate Court took the view that f leave and licence agreement confers only a personal right to occupy; that right cannot be transferred nor inherited by the Hindustan Petroleum Corpn., being successor-in-interest of Esso Eastern Inc. In that view of the matter the appellate Cooperative Court held that the Petitioner
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