It took 20 yrs to get back rented house

Fri, Feb 29 01:20 AM

A civil suit over a prime property located on Amrita Shergill Marg, fetching a monthly rent of over Rs 3 lakh, ended after a city court ordered M K Modi, chairman of Modipon, to vacate the premises. The suit for possession against Modi took 20 years to end.

The premises whose market value is over Rs 150 crore was on rent since 1977 at a measly amount of Rs 7,000. Taking account of financial loss incurred by the property owners, the court of civil judge Gaurav Rao also awarded damages of Rs 69 lakh which will be paid by Modi.

Rao said: "Taking into consideration that the property is located in one of the most posh localities of NDMC and consists of an area of 3,500 square yards, I award average damages at the rate of Rs 30,000 per month." The damages shall be paid retrospectively, with effect from April 1, 1989, the day when landlady Pushpa Guglani filed a suit for possession against Modi.

The case was dragged into a controversy after it was revealed that the acknowledgement cards proving termination of Modi's tenancy were missing from the judicial file. During his defence, Modi had cited absence of the cards to prove that his tenancy was never terminated.

Guglani had approached the court seeking eviction of Modipon after ending her agreement with the company through a notice issued on February 22, 1989. The dispute began much prior to the filing of the suit.

Guglani had on two different occasions filed cases under the Delhi Rent Control Act alleging the tenant had got unauthorized construction done in the premises. Both the suits were, however, withdrawn.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/hindustantimes/20080229/r_t_ht_nl_general/tnl-it-took-20-yrs-to-get-back-rented-ho-7244580.html