Relief to Kamal Amrohi and Meena Kumari's kin as local court orders society to evict leased land

Mumbai, May 26 (PTI) In a legal dispute spanning over three decades, a local court here has ordered a housing society to evict the land it had leased in 1966 from yesteryear Bollywood couple Kamal Amrohi and Meena Kumari in Bandra.

The appellate bench of the Court of Small Causes in Bandra has ruled in favour of Amrohi's son, Tajdar Amrohi, and ordered the 162-member society to hand over possession of the land in the posh Pali Hill locality within six months.

The order was passed on April 23.

Additional Chief Judge Ashish Ayachit and Judge D R Mali held that the society failed to pay the contractual rent regularly and has hence committed default.

"The society has consciously committed a breach of the covenants of the indenture of lease regarding the payment of contractual rent," the order said.

"The defendant society was not ready and willing to pay the arrears of rent, and they failed to comply with the provision of section 12(3) of the Bombay Rent Act. Therefore, the plaintiffs (Amrohi) are entitled to a decree of eviction," it said.

Meena Kumari married Amrohi in 1952, and the couple purchased the land measuring over 11,000 square yards at Pali Hill in suburban Bandra in 1959.

The land was leased to the Cozihome Co-operative Housing Society Limited in 1966 for the construction of buildings at a rent of Rs 8,835 per month.

In 1990, Amrohi terminated the lease agreement, claiming that the society had failed to pay the agreed rent and had defaulted in payments.

A year later, he filed a suit seeking eviction of the society and possession of the land.

In October 2007, the Court of Small Causes in Bandra passed an order in favour of Amrohi and passed a decree of eviction against the society, which challenged the order before the appellate bench.

The appellate bench has held that the trial court's order of eviction was "proper and correct".

The society has been ordered to hand over possession of the land within six months.

The society is planning to challenge this order before the Bombay High Court. PTI AVI SP ARU