Kuwaiti Emir’s daughter loses plea over 7,000-sq-ft Marine Drive flat

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Friday rejected the plea filed by Sheikhah Fadiah Saad, daughter of Kuwaiti Emir -- Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah -- seeking appointment of Court Receiver over a 7,000-square-feet sea-facing apartment on Marine Drive

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Friday rejected the plea filed by Sheikhah Fadiah Saad, daughter of Kuwaiti Emir -- Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah -- seeking appointment of Court Receiver over a 7,000-square-feet sea-facing apartment on Marine Drive.

Mumbai, India - November 18, 2022: Al Sabah Court at Marine Drive, in Mumbai, India, on Friday, November 18, 2022. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

Saad had alleged that Sanjay Punamiya, a tenant in the Al Sabah Court, had forcefully taken over the fifth-floor apartment and a parking garage in the building owned by the royal family. Alongside, she alleged two others – Amish Shaikh and Manesh Soni -- have taken over two rooms measuring 270 and 300 square feet, respectively, in the same building.

In a suit filed in HC in 2014, she had sought declaration of all three as trespassers. She had also stated that the tenancy agreements produced by Punamiya were forged.

Thereafter, she had filed a plea to appoint a Court Receiver and a direction for all three tenants jointly pay ₹35 lakhs per month as compensation for alleged unlawful occupation of the premises.

She claimed that the entire building is owned by their family, and except for the spaces in dispute, all other flats in the building were rented out.

Faisal Essa, the former Counsel General of Kuwait in Mumbai, was the caretaker of Al Sabah Court, even as he resided in a nearby building. She claimed that in the last week of April 2013, Essa had hosted guests at the apartment, but all the three premises were taken over after Essa returned to Kuwait in May, 2013.

Punamiya and the two others, however, said their agreements with Essa were legitimate and the allegations of forgery made by Shaikhah were baseless. This was corroborated by their lawyer.

After hearing the submissions and perusing records, the single judge bench of Justice BP Colabawalla, however, refused to appoint a Court Receiver on the premises, stating that the tenancy agreements of all three “appeared to be genuine”.

“I am therefore of the opinion that the plaintiff has been unable to prima facie establish that the tenancy agreement dated October 30, 2012, entered into with the defendant as a forged and fabricated,” said the court.

HC, however, continued the restraint on Punamiya and two others – first issued in May 2014 – from selling, transferring or creating any third-party rights in the flats and rooms.

Case so far

In 2014, Sheikhah Fadiah Saad filed a suit in Bombay high court, seeking a declaration that Sanjay Punamiya, a tenant residing in one of the apartments in the building, and two others, Amish Shaikh and Mahesh Soni, residing in two other apartments, as trespassers.

She also sought a declaration that the tenancy agreements produced by Punamiya were forged.

Saad sought appointment of a Court Receiver over the premises and direction to Punamiya and the two others, to jointly pay ₹35 lakhs per month as compensation for alleged unlawful occupation of the premises. She claimed the entire building is owned by the Saad family.