‘Aadhaar no proof you are legally occupying house’

MUMBAI: Aadhaar card, Pan card and electricity bills are not proof that a person is legally occupying a house, Bombay high court has ruled. Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi upheld the eviction of four families of former municipal employees from a building in Matunga owned by BMC.

The families, claimed they had been staying in apartments at Laxmi Niwas, Matunga, for around four decades and had been issued identity and address documents “The documentary evidence on which (the families) have relied on, such as electricity bills, ration cards, Aadhaar card, PAN cards, etc, at the most prove their occupation but not the authority under which they are occupying those premises,” said the judge. “It may be true that as they are in possession of the enquiry premises since last several years, no objection might have given by the municipal corporation for them to obtain electric or telephone connections, but that cannot make their occupation over the enquiry premises as authorised,” the court said, adding that they were liable to be evicted.

The court pointed that the families had admitted that they did not have documents to show that they were unauthorisedly staying in the apartments or the corporation had given then permission to stay there. “They have admitted that they are neither tenants nor licencees of the municipal corporation. They have admitted that they have not paid rent, fees or compensation in respect of the premises to the municipal corporation,” said the judge.