In Brief
A textile mill property in Mumbai was subject to a lease that expired in 1990, after which the occupant became a statutory tenant under rent control laws. When the government nationalized textile undertakings in 1995, the statutory tenancy rights vested in the Central Government, not in the National Textile Corporation (NTC) that managed the mill. The property owner filed eviction suit against NTC in civil court, obtaining a decree. The Supreme Court's review petition by the Union of India succeeded because a 2014 validation law, operating retrospectively, clarified that leasehold and tenancy rights remain vested in the Central Government. Consequently, the eviction decree against NTC was unenforceable—the real tenant was the Union of India, and eviction must proceed through rent control courts, not civil courts. The review petition was disposed with liberty for the owner to pursue appropriate remedies under rent legislation.
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