Bombay High Court Refuses To Extend Deadline For Dwarka Restaurant & Other Occupants To Vacate Premises At Dalal Street Junction

The Bombay High Court recently refused to extend the deadline of January 29, 2024, for Dwarka restaurant and other occupants to vacate their premises situated at the junction of Dalal Street and Nagindas Master Road in Fort, Mumbai, so that the owner can undertake repairs. The restaurant is no longer operating in the concerned building.

The building DG Chambers is owned by Irishman Developers, and the restaurant as well as other occupants are its tenants.

As per the report of BMC's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), the building is repairable, and is in the C-2A category but if not repaired as required, it will fall into the C-1, dilapidated, dangerous and uninhabitable category.

A division bench of Justice GS Patel and Justice Kamal Khata had on January 8, 2024, directed the restaurant and six other occupants to vacate the premises within three weeks by January 29, 2024.

Subsequently, an application was filed by Dwarka and two other occupants seeking an extension of an additional three weeks to facilitate alternative arrangements. However, the court, on January 24, 2024, maintained the original deadline of January 29, 2024, thereby dismissing the application for an extension of time.

During the proceedings on January 8, 2024, Advocate Yashodeep Deshmukh for the owner of the property informed the court that a proposal for building repairs had been submitted to the BMC. He said that all tenants, excluding the six petitioners, had already vacated the premises, emphasising that even the lawyers had vacated.

“As Mr Deshmukh pointedly submits “even the lawyers have vacated”. This tells us everything we need to know about the condition of the building”, the court had remarked.

The court had said that while the application for repairs was under process with BMC, the Petitioners must not await the grant of that permission and directed them to vacate the premises within three weeks.

Case no. – Writ Petition (L) No. 26283 of 2023

Case Title – Kamath Brothers (Dwarka) & Ors v. Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai & Ors.

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