Tussle over twin towers

Orchid Heights at Ripon Road in Byculla, a prestigious residential project by DB Realty, has become a center of contention after Byram Rustom Jeejeebhoy issued a notice in the newspapers on August 19, 2011, claiming ownership of the plot on which the twin towers are coming up. Member of the family which is Bombay’s fourth largest landowner, Jeejeebhoy’s notice warned that any person claiming any right or dealing with DB Realty in connection with the two lakh sq ft plot would be doing so at his own risk, reported Mumbai Mirror (MM) on August 21, 2011.

On August 20, DB Realty issued a notice contesting Jeejeebhoy’s claims and assuring investors who had booked apartments in the 80-storeyed Orchid Heights that their investments were safe. Each luxury apartment in the twin towers ­— available in three sizes all well over 3,000 sq ft — has four bedrooms and the estimated cost of the smallest would be in the region of eight crores, MM reported.

Jeejeebhoy said he inherited the land from his grandfather Nanabhai, and that the builders went ahead with the construction without his consent. DB Realty’s stance is that Neelkumar Sumer Realtors acquired the land from Jecee Corporation which had earlier sub-leased it from Esaji Tajbhoy, tenant of the original landowner, Rustomji Jeejeebhoy, Byram’s great-grandfather. According to Byram, Esaji’s heirs were not empowered to lease the land to someone else being sub-lessees with rights of possession alone. Despite this, the land was leased to Jecee which in turn leased it to Sumer, so DB Realty says its claim on the land is legal.

Maintaining that Jeejeebhoy’s notice is false and misleading, DB Realty claims that it has valid, clear and unchallenged title deeds on the property for a period of approximately 879 years through a registered deed, MM reports. "The issuer of the notice has not obtained an order from any competent court that declared the rights of DB Realty have been validly terminated. DB Realty will defend its rights to the said property as well as the rights of all stakeholders, as and when the need arises,” a spokesman for the company told MM. According to the newspaper, reliable sources have informed them that Jeejeebhoy will soon move court seeking a stay on the construction. Neither the issuer nor his lawyer Dinsoo Zaiwalla chose to comment on the matter, MM wrote.