The main legal point established in the judgment is the equitable balance of the rights and obligations of the tenant and the landlord in the context of a demolition notice and the need for the tenant to vacate the premises to enable reconstruction.

JUDGMENT :

(Arijit Banerjee, J.)

1. These two appeals arise out of the same set of facts and hence have been taken up together for hearing and disposal.

2. The appellant in both the appeals is a tenant in respect of portions of the 2nd and 4th floors of premises No. 138 Cotton Street, Kolkata-700007. The appellant challenged a demolition notice issued by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (in short ‘KMC’) under Section 411 of the KMC Act, 1980, on August 8, 2016, by filing W.P.O. No. 577 of 2017. The landlord/owner of the said premises, M/S Anndata Developers Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ‘Anndata’) is a party respondent in the writ petition. The appellant herein filed an application in the writ petition being G.A. No. 1 of 2021 alleging that during pendency of the writ petition, the owner of the premises wrongfully demolished a portion of the second floor of the said premises which was under the occupation of the appellant (herein referred to as ‘Arti’). In that application Arti prayed for a direction on Anndata to reconstruct the demolished portion at its cost and restore possession of such reconstructed portion to Arti.

3. The said application was disposed of by a learned Single Judge by an order dated October 19, 2021, the operative portion whereof reads as follows:-

“Yet, in view of the fair undertaking given by learned Counsel for the respondent no. 7 on instruction from his client, the respondent no. 7 is directed to provide adequate temporary accommodation to the applicants for the time being, within reasonable physical proximity of the demolished premises, till possession of the commensurate portion of the newly constructed building is handed over to the applicants, as per their previous undertaking.

Such temporary accommodation shall be provided by the private respondent, that is, respondent no. 7 within October 22, 2021 positively. The respondent no. 7 shall further ensure that completion certificate is obtained at the earliest from the KMC for handing over possession of a commensurate portion of the newly constructed structure to the applicants as soon as possible. It is further clarified that this order is only of an ad hoc nature and shall not affect/prejudice in any manner the rights and contentions of any of the parties in the main writ petition. All questions, including the question of maintainability of the writ petition, are kept open for being decided at the final hearing of the writ petition. The present arrangement shall be subject to any order passed by the appropriate Bench while disposing of the writ petition finally.”

4. Before proceeding further it may be noted that in the said writ petition Anndata, through one of its directors, Brijratan Mundhra, had filed an affidavit wherein, the dilapidated condition of the building in question and the need to demolish the same for reconstruction, was highlighted and an undertaking was recorded to the following effect:-

“It is a fact that the respondent no. 7 herein assures the writ petitioners herein to the extent that the respondent no. 7 would provide the required spaces to the writ petitioners herein as soon as the respondent no. 7 would complete the newly constructed building over the said premises provided further the respondent no. 7 would get the completion certificate regarding construction of newly building over the said premises from the competent authority of the respondent Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

That the respondent no. 7 are giving an undertaking to the effect that the writ petitioners would get the same and in terms of Square feet as they are rightly enjoying over the said premises in question after getting approval from the respondent Kolkata Municipal Corporation relating to completion certificate of the newly built building over the said premises in accordance with the necessary Building Rules of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980.”

5. Alleging violation of the order dated October 19, 2021, Arti filed a contempt application agains