India, July 1 -- 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.

Petitioners 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.

Th...