Aditya Pancholi told to vacate house he was staying in for `173 a month
NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor Aditya Pancholi lost a threedecade-old litigation with his landlord as the Supreme Court on Friday asked him to vacate a flat after his family failed to pay rent arrears for 38 years running into `1,384.
A bench headed by Justice JS Kehar ordered Pancholi to vacate the 700 square feet accommodation in Juhu, Mumbai, on or before December 31, 2015.
Bhakti Haate was armed with documents and photographs to demonstrate how the star had threatened her father who initiated the eviction proceedings against Pancholi in 1977.
The actor’s offer to pay her `75 lakh as advance rent for five years did not deter Haate from changing her mind.
“He has harassed us for so many years. He threatened to kill my father,” Haate told the court. Later, she said: “He never paid the arrear amount despite giving an undertaking twice. During the litigation he never offered to increase even the rent amount which was just `173.”
During the hearing, justice Kehar remarked in a lighter vein: “You will have a star living in your building. Accommodate him.”
Pancholi’s counsel, senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta, urged the court to grant the actor time till March 31, 2016 to vacate.
“He has his fond memories attached to the property,” he told the court, adding the star would need time to search for a new place. But, Justice Kehar said jokingly: “If he can afford you (Gupta), he can get any property. He is a star. He can buy a property anytime.”