Mumbai: Eleven months after a family was “physically thrown out” of their flat in Andheri East, mortgaged by its previous owner with both the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd (SCBL), the Bombay High Court on Tuesday restored possession of the flat to the family.HC restores family’s possession of Andheri flat mired in competing claims of banksPetitioners Mariyam Rangwala and others who had bought the flat eight years ago in a bank auction were “unnecessarily found at the receiving end” of a dispute over the recovery of dues by the SCBL from the flat’s previous owner, the court said. Dispossession of the family from their legally-owned home had hit them like a “bolt from the blue”, the court noted, and directed the SCBL to grant them possession of the flat within four weeks.The petitioners, “who have been in valid and legal possession of the aforesaid flat for more than eight years, cannot be thrown on the streets,” the court said.The Rangwalas had purchased the flat in 2017 for ₹66.45 lakh, at an auction conducted by the SBI. They were thrown out of their home in August last year at the instance of the SCBL, with their belongings still inside.The high court noted that the original owner of the flat, who had purchased it in 1985, had availed credit facilities from two banks – SCBL and SBI – by providing the very same flat as security.In 2004, the previous owner’s proprietorship firm, Hi Tech Polyplast Industries, availed credit worth ₹3.23 crore from the SBI by mortgaging the flat and depositing its title deed. The security interest was registered with the Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI) in March 2012. That same year, the owner also deposited the flat’s title deed with the SCBL to avail an overdraft facility of ₹25 lakh.In 2013, the SCBL declared the owner’s loan account a non-performing asset and sought repayment of ₹52.53 lakh. In April 2013, the bank took symbolic possession of the flat, but did not take any further action for the next 12 years.In 2025, however, the SCBL moved an application before a magistrate to act on the symbolic possession of the flat it had taken 12 years ago. On August 20, 2025 following the magistrate’s order in pursuance with the SCBL’s application, “the court commissioner physically threw out the petitioners and their family members,” the high court noted.In their order, justices Manish Pitale and Shreeram Shirsat wrote that even the SCBL conceded that the Rangwalas could not be said to have conspired with the SBI to deprive SCBL of its rights.Unlike the SCBL which went into a “slumber”, the SBI had acted with alacrity, the court said. In May 2013, the bank issued a notice to the former owner and sought repayment of ₹3.40 crore. It took symbolic possession of the flat in December 2013, whereas in April 2017, it issued an e-auction notice against the flat. The Rangwala’s bid of ₹66.45 lakh was accepted in August 2017.The Rangwalas had a registered sale certificate of the flat; though they claimed to be its legal owners, none of their objections and pleas were considered, the court said. Their lawyer was “at pains to point out the human suffering and tragedy suffered by the petitioners”.The court said that the SCBL could raise a competing claim against the SBI in a legal dispute, without adversely affecting the interest of the Rangwalas, particularly when they had a registered sale certificate for the flat.“We find that the respondent, Saraswat Bank, has miserably failed to explain its deep slumber with regard to taking further logical action after taking symbolic possession of the subject flat as far back as on April 12, 2013,” the court said.The SCBL’s claim over the flat was absurd as once the security interest in the flat had been dealt with, and the SBI had enforced its security interest, the flat was no longer available for further enforcement by the SCBL, the court ruled.