The matter is now adjourned to June 14, when the regular courts will take it up once the vacation is over on June 7.

Justice Radhakrishnan passed the interim order on a suit filed by Ramona Garware, wife of the late Jaideep Garware after the house was allegedly forcibly entered into and locked by Anita Garware, mother of Jaideep, and his brother Nihal Garware on April 2, 1999 when Ramona was away in Delhi. Since then, Ramona has been living at her parents' place.

According to her plaint, Jaideep Garware was a tenant under the Tenancy Agreement (dated September 18, 1992) of the premises on BhulabhaiDesai Road. The premises consists of a penthouse on the ninth floor of the complex, the entire terrace, a couple of servant quarters, and parking space for two cars under the stilts and one open car parking space in the compound. The premises were tenanted out on a monthly rent of Rs 2,000.

Admittedly, there were disputes on the tenancy when Garware Paints that held the shares of the society sold their shares to one P Rajarathinam and the name of the company owning the premises was changed to Dave Paints in 1995, even though the tenancy of the premises continued in the name of Jaideep Garware.

In fact, the late Jaideep had filed a suit in the Small Causes Court on October 15, 1996 against Dave Paints for a declaration that he was the tenant of the premises. He prayed for a perpetual injunction against Dave Paints restraining them from disturbing his possession in any way. That case is yet to be settled.

According to the plaint, on April 18, 1999, when a maidservant of Ramona went to the premises atSomerset Palace, she was allegedly physically prevented from entering the house and informed that the original lock to the main door had been changed. A complaint was then registered with the Gamdevi police station that night itself, after Ramona hastily returned from Delhi.

In her complaint, Ramona Garware has claimed that she has been occupying the premises since her husband's death. She has argued that under Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, since her deceased husband was in use, occupation and possession of the flat since July 1987 till September 1992 as an executive of Garware paints and since September 18, 1992 as tenant, she is entitled to the flat.