KAMLESH C. SHAH & ORS. versus STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS.

Citation: [2013] 13 S.C.R. 577 · Decided: 03-07-2013 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: ALTAMAS KABIR · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

[2013] 13 S.C.R. 577 
~ 
KAMLESH C. SHAH & ORS. 
A 
v. 
STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS. 
I.A. NO. 3 OF 2012 
IN 
WRIT PETITION (C) NO. 342 OF 1999 
B 
JULY 03, 2013 
[ALTAMAS KABIR CJI. VIKRAMAJIT SEN AND 
A.K. SIKRI, JJ.) 
c 
Interlocutory Relief - Grant of - Writ petitions u/Art. 32 
of the Constitution challenging introduction of Chapter Vfl/~A 
in Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976 -
Chapter VIII-A pertained to acquisition of the cess 3d 
properties by the Authority under the Act for co-operative D 
--+-
Societies of occupiers - Matter referred to a Bench of Nine-
Judges and since pending - Interlocutory application in 
respect of a building acquired as cessed property - Praying 
for direction of the Court to declare the acquisition no longer 
necessary in view of the fact that the owner and tenants of the 
E 
property entered into an agreement to themselves develop 
the property instead of waiting for the decision of Nine-Judge 
Bench - Held: Application Jiable to be dismissed, as the relief 
'f 
prayed for goes against the very grain of the provisions of 
Chapter VIII-A of the Acf - Maharashtra Housing and Area 
F 
Developrnent Act, 1976 - Chapter VIII-A. 
Chapter VIII-A w;-s introduced in Maharashtra 
Housing and Are; _::=~ielopment Act, 1976, which 
pertained to acquh;ition of cessed properties for co-
....,/ """11"' 
operative societies of occupiers. The validity thereof was G 
challenged in several cases including the present writ 
petition. The matters were initially referred to a Bench of 
7 Judges, but later, the same were referred to Bench of 
9 Judges and are still pending. 
577 
H 
··~: 
578 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2013] 13 S.C.R. 
A 
The writ petitioners have filed the present 
interlocutory petition seeking interim reliefs in respect of 
certain property which was acquired by the Maharashtra 
Housing and Area Development Authority, treating the 
same as cessed property, as per s. 103B of Chapter Vlll-
B A of the Act. 
The petitioner took the plea that as the matter is 
pending before a Bench of Nine Judges, which is not 
likely to be taken up in near future, the tenants and the 
C owner of the buildings entered into an agreement by 
which they themselves agreed to develop the property, 
instead of waiting for the decision of the nine-Judges 
Bench. The petitioner prayed that this Court may declare 
the acquisition of the property to be no longer necessary 
a'nd relevant for the purposes of Chapter VIII-A and the 
D relationship of the owner and the tenant would continue 
as before. 
E 
F 
Dismissing the petition, the Court 
HELD: 1. If the tenants have to wait till a decision is 
rendered by the Nine-Judge Bench, the entire object with 
which Chapter VlllA was introduced in the 1976 Act, 
would be rendered completely nugatory. May be a 
situation, such as the present one, was never 
contemplated by those who wanted to frame a scheme 
to rehabilitate tenants who were victims of a situation 
where they had to reside in unhygienic and may be 
dangerous conditions because of lack of repairs on 
account of the low rents payable by the tenants which 
had been frozen from 1st September, 1940, and made it 
G virtually impossible for the landlords to maintain the 
properties when, at times, the municipal taxes were 
higher than the rents collected; but the Courts have to 
interpret the law as it is. [Para 18) [590-D-F] 
H 
2. Section 103A was introduced by way of Chapter 
.....--· 
KAMLESH C. SHAH v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA 579 
VIII-A in the 1976 Act, by Maharashtra Act 21 of 1986, when 
A 
realisation dawned on the administration, that many 
persons who had been occupying buildings either as 
tenants or otherwise from before 1st September, 1940, 
were faced with a peculiar dilemma in which on account 
of the low rents paid by them, which had been frozen, the 
8 
landlords were unwilling to effect any repairs to the old 
structures. Section 103A, whereby Chapter VIII-A was 
made applicable to all "cessed buildings". [Para 19) [590-
G-H; 591-A] 
3. "Cessed buildings" are buildings in which repairs 
C 
had not been effected after 1st September, 1940, and 
were in danger of collapse, but continued to be under the 
occupation of tenants. In fact, 19,642 cessed. and 
dilapidated buildings have been identified in the island 
city of Bombay. It is Section 103B, which deals with the 
D 
procedure for acquisition of cessed property for 
cooperative societies of occupiers, pursuant to 
proposals for acqui

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