The Supreme Court Friday directed the Bombay High Court registry to find a suitable house in Mumbai for socialite Poonam Jaidev Shroff, engaged in a bitter matrimonial dispute with her industrialist husband Jaidev Shroff.
The top court, which had asked the woman to search for a house of her "choice" in Mumbai's Bandra-Palli Hill area, was informed by her counsel Shyam Divan that instead of being asked to look for a house, she be given monthly rent of Rs 30 lakh by her estranged husband.
"We do not want to devote much time on this issue," the bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said, adding that it has already heard the matter on six occasions.
"The Registrar of the Bombay High Court is directed to engage an architect from the panel of architects maintained by the High Court of Bombay and locate an appropriate house for appropriate accommodation of for residence of the respondent (the woman)," the bench said, adding that the rented house should be equivalent to her husband's house in Pali Hill area of Mumbai.
The bench asked the Registrar to file a report within two months from today and made clear that the rent shall be paid by her husband as agreed earlier.
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Senior advocate Shyam Divan for the woman said that the house should be searched preferably in Bandra-Pali Hill area of suburb of Mumbai.
On February 26, the bench had asked Poonam to search for a house of her "choice" in Mumbai in a week's time or it will direct the Bombay High Court registry to do the needful which will be binding on her.
It had said that the woman can live in a house of her choice till final disposal of their divorce plea by a family court at Bandra.
Senior advocate A M Singhvi, representing the husband, had said that his client was willing to pay the rent and would not like to pay cash in lieu of the rent.
The bench had earlier ordered that "Poonam Jaidev Shroff will locate rented premises of her choice which shall be equivalent to the residence...Pali Hill, Bandra... for her residence...
"A M Singhvi, counsel appearing for appellant Jaidev Rajnikant Shroff, states that the appellant will pay the rent for the said premises. It is understood that this arrangement will at the moment continue till the disposal of the pending divorce petition."
Prior to this, the Bombay High court had permitted the woman to enter their "shared household", a bungalow at tony Pali Hill in Bandra.
Singhvi had said that Shroff, the husband, had lodged an FIR against his wife for allegedly trying to administer drugs through orange juice with the help of a 'Bengali Baba' and even the charge sheet has been filed in that case.
The other side vehemently denied the allegations.
Singhvi had said he had offered Rs 90 crore towards full and final settlement of the divorce dispute, but it was not agreed upon.
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