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Shubhas Jain v. Rajeshwari Shivam & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 345Decided 20 Jul 2021
Civil Appeal No. 2848 of 2021
Justice Indira Banerjee · Justice V. Ramasubramanian

Background

The appellant owned an old three-structure tenanted building in Chembur, Mumbai, that multiple structural audits and the Municipal Corporation's Technical Advisory Committee had declared dangerous and fit for immediate demolition (category C-1). While 18 of 24 tenants agreed to vacate, one tenant (Respondent No. 1) refused, obtained a private architect's report suggesting the building could be repaired, and got the Bombay High Court to grant him permission to carry out wall-removal repairs himself rather than vacate as directed by the Municipal Corporation's demolition notice.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court, exercising its writ jurisdiction under Article 226, had overstepped by picking one private architect's report over the considered, repeated findings of the Municipal Corporation's own Technical Advisory Committee: a writ court is not meant to resolve disputed technical/factual questions like which safety report to believe. The Court also noted the relied-upon private report itself disclaimed being a "certificate of stability." Given the owner's reasonable proposal to rehouse the tenant with rent and a guaranteed equivalent flat after redevelopment, the Court set aside the High Court's order and dismissed the tenant's writ petition, effectively clearing the way for demolition and redevelopment, subject to the owner's undertakings to the tenant.

Lesson Learnt

A writ court should not substitute its own view on technical safety assessments over a competent public authority's considered findings (like a building being officially certified dangerous), especially when human safety is at stake, and landlords undertaking to fairly rehouse tenants during redevelopment can expect courts to favour genuine safety concerns over one tenant's reluctance to vacate.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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