Bombay HC refuses to interfere in ‘not so meagre’ Rs 2.5 lakh monthly interim compensation order to K Rustom ice-cream parlour | Mumbai News

The property, which has been the subject of the suit since 1996, comprises 3,070 square feet and a mezzanine floor of 950 square feet.

The ice cream shop run by the Rustom family, a favourite with many visiting Marine Drive, known for its ice cream sandwiches, is over eight decades old.

On April 30, 2022, a small-cause court had ordered K Rustom to vacate its premises, deciding on a suit with a decree in favour of its landlord, the CCI. The CCI had sought the premises given on rent to K Rustom for its activities, stating that the list of its members has increased manifolds and the Club required more space to start a coffee shop on the premises.

However, while hearing K Rustom’s appeal, on June 30, 2022, the small-cause appellate court had granted an interim stay to the order that had directed K Rustom to vacate its premises at the North Stand building, part of the Brabourne stadium, within two months. The interim stay was granted subject to the condition that K Rustom and Company will deposit Rs 2.5 lakh per month in court by the 10th of each month till the final disposal of the appeal.

K Rustom was also directed to deposit Rs 527 per month as the amount of rent till the disposal of the appeal. The appellate court had made its interim stay order absolute in February 2023.

Aggrieved by the quantum of interim compensation fixed by the appellate court as a pre-condition for the grant of stay to the execution of the decree, the CCI had approached the Bombay High Court last year.

Advocate Vivek Kantawala representing CCI urged a single-judge bench of Justice Sandeep V Marne on December 16 seeking fresh consideration of the quantum of interim compensation as the comparable instances cited by the petitioner were ignored by the appellate court.

Justice Marne noted that CCI’s suit had been decreed on April 30, 2022, ‘on solitary ground of bonafide requirement of the plaintiff-club’ and the appeal was likely to be taken up for decision.

“The amount of interim compensation of Rs. 2,50,000/- cannot be considered as so meagre as to warrant interference by this Court in exercise of extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution. Instead, the Appellate Court can be requested to expedite the hearing of the Appeal rather than remanding the application for fresh consideration as per the request made,” Justice Marne noted.