India, Dec. 4 -- The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected a suit filed by Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust, seeking to recover Rs.17.20 crore from former trustee Niket Mehta for occupying a flat and an office in the Lilavati Hospital building for years. Justice Milind Jadhav rejected the suit primarily on the ground that the trust had filed it without obtaining mandatory consent of the charity commissioner under section 51 of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act.

The trust had approached the high court in December 2024, seeking to recover Rs.17.20 crore from Mehta, a former permanent trustee, for using a 2,849-sqft flat on the 12th floor of the hospital building as his family residence for over eight years, from January 2007 to Apri...