93-Yr-Old Woman Wins 80-Yr-Old Legal Battle for 2 Flats in Mumbai

Mumbai: Ending an 80-year-old property dispute, the Bombay High Court directed the Maharashtra government to hand over two south Mumbai flats to a 93-year-old woman named Alice D’souza.

These flats on the first floor of Ruby Mansion in south Mumbai are part of a building that was requisitioned by the government on March 28, 1942, under the then Defence of India Act.

A division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and M M Sathaye in its order of May 4 noted that despite de-requisition orders passed in July 1946, the flats were never handed back to the owner, Alice D’souza. Both flats are now occupied by the legal heirs of a former government official.

D’souza in her petition claimed that the requisition order was withdrawn but still the possession of the flat was not handed over to the rightful owner.

The bench in its order noted that physical possession of the premises was never handed over to the owner (D’souza) and hence the de-requisition was not complete.

The court directed the state government to “hand over vacant and peaceful possession of the subject matter premises to the petitioner owner (D’souza) after taking its possession from the present occupants within eight weeks”.