Requirement Of Prior Permission Can’t Be Invoked To Suspend Execution Of Eviction Decree Merely Due To Subsequent Declaration Of Property As Slum Area: Bombay High Court
The petitioners approached the Bombay High Court challenging the order passed by the Appellate Bench of the Small Causes Court dismissing the application filed under Section 47 of the CPC.
The Bombay High Court has clarified that the requirement of prior permission from the Competent Authority cannot be invoked to defeat or suspend the execution of an eviction decree merely because the suit property was subsequently declared a slum area under the Slum Act.
The petitioners approached the High Court challenging the order passed by the Appellate Bench of the Small Causes Court dismissing the application filed by the Judgment-Debtor under Section 47 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908.
The Single Bench of Justice Arun R. Pedneker held, “The requirement of prior permission, therefore, cannot be invoked to defeat or suspend the execution of an eviction decree until the permission is obtained of the Competent Authority, merely on account of a subsequent declaration of suit property as being in a slum area under the Slum Act. Section 22 of the Slum Act uses a word “institute” and the bar under Section 22 of the Act applies for institution of the proceedings without permission of the Competent Authority.”
Advocate H. P. Pandey represented the Petitioners while Advocate Minakshi Surve represented the Respondents.
Factual Background
A suit was instituted by the respondents against the original tenants, and they obtained a decree in their favour. The original Defendant preferred an Appeal against the decree of eviction, which came to be dismissed. The Respondents/Plaintiffs instituted execution proceedings before the Small Causes Court. The Executing Court issued a Warrant of Possession. In the said execution proceedings, the Petitioners filed an application under Section 47 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 raising an objection as to the executability of the decree on the ground that the execution was barred by the provisions of Section 22(1)(b) of the Slum Act as the Plaintiffs had failed to obtain requisite permission from the Competent Authority to execute the decree.
The said application came to be dismissed by the Trial Court and the same was challenged before the Appellate Bench of the Small Causes Court in a Revision Application. During the pendency of the Appeal in execution proceedings, the larger property, including the suit premises, came to be declared as a Slum Area under the provisions of Section 4(1) of the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971 (Slum Act). The Appellate Bench dismissed the Revision Application, against which the Petition came to be filed before the High Court.
Reasoning
The Bench took note of the fact that the decree was passed in the year 2015 in and confirmed in the year 2016. The execution application was filed in the year 2016, and the suit property was declared as a Slum Area in 2018.
The Bench explained that the requirement of obtaining permission under Section 22(1)(a) or (b) of the Slum Act has to be examined with reference to the date on which the proceedings are instituted. “Where the execution itself is instituted before the declaration of the property as a Slum Area, a subsequent declaration of the property as a Slum Area cannot, by itself, render the decree inexecutable without obtaining permission. The subsequent declaration does not retrospectively alter the nature or validity of the execution proceedings already instituted”, it added.
The Bench further clarified that the requirement of prior permission cannot be invoked to defeat or suspend the execution of an eviction decree until the permission is obtained from the Competent Authority, merely on account of a subsequent declaration of suit property as being in a slum area. The Bench thus dismissed the petition.
Cause Title: Sachin v. Miss. Flymi Sadanandan (Case No.: Writ Petition No. 12362 of 2025)