Court quashes BMC’s eviction order against Mumbai Grahak Panchayat

The court held that the nonprofit organisation’s lease on the 5,000-square-foot plot at the JVPD Scheme in Vile Parle (West), where Grahak Bhavan stands, had been validly renewed till December 31, 2030.

Mumbai: The City Civil Court in Mumbai struck down the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) order declaring the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) an “unauthorised occupant” of its own building, Grahak Bhavan, observing that the action appeared to be driven more by the interests of a private developer than by public purpose.

Court quashes BMC’s eviction order against Mumbai Grahak Panchayat

The court held that the nonprofit organisation’s lease on the 5,000-square-foot plot at the JVPD Scheme in Vile Parle (West), where Grahak Bhavan stands, had been validly renewed till December 31, 2030. It rejected the civic body’s contention that the lease had lapsed in 1996, pointing to documentary evidence, including a 2004 letter from the municipal commissioner and a resolution from the BMC’s Improvement Committee that supported the MGP’s renewal claim.

The plot was originally allotted to the MGP, a nonprofit working to protect consumer rights, in 1985 for the construction of an office building, which was completed in 1987. However, the BMC later claimed that the organisation was in illegal possession of the plot and sought to evict it for the redevelopment of the adjoining JVPD municipal market.

The court noted that the MGP had expressed willingness to cooperate, although disputes arose with the BMC over the terms of agreement. “Non-agreement of terms does not imply non-cooperation,” the order observed. It also criticised BMC for withholding documents that supported the lease renewal, adding that it was required to act transparently as a public body.

The eviction proceedings stemmed from a redevelopment proposal submitted by developer Sucheta Construction for the municipal market next to Grahak Bhavan. Although the BMC had initially excluded the MGP’s plot from the scheme, the developer sought its inclusion, following which the then municipal commissioner cancelled the MGP’s lease in 2016 without notice. Subsequent show-cause notices and eviction orders culminated in the competent authority’s order in April 2023 directing the MGP’s removal, which has now been quashed.

The court further recorded that a June 2024 Bombay High Court ruling had already cast doubt on the BMC’s ownership of several amenity plots in the JVPD area, including the one allotted to MGP, potentially vitiating the eviction proceedings at their inception.

The court allowed the MGP’s appeal, set aside the 2023 eviction order, and directed that the records be returned. It underlined that the organisation, which serves over 30,000 beneficiaries, could not be arbitrarily displaced by being labelled a trespasser.