Centre initiates eviction proceedings against Sujan Singh Park North in Delhi

The 1945 lease, the L&DO said, for the land had been re-entered on August 5, 1960 due to the company’s failure to rectify breaches of two clauses of the lease.  Re-entry refers to the termination of the lease in event of a breach of the lease.

No renewal, fresh allotment or fresh lease had been executed or granted since 1960, and the continued occupation of the property was without authority of law, the L&DO added.

The L&DO initiated the proceedings under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, and asked the firm to recover possession from “sub-tenants”.

Shaunak Kashyap, the advocate for Sir Sobha Singh & Sons Pvt. Ltd, said the company had got “substantive relief” from the Delhi High Court on Wednesday when it moved the court against the June 11 notice. While the court did not stay the notice, Kashyap said it was not necessary. He said the notice rested on a June 9 judgment of the Tis Hazari court, in which the court struck down a decree in favour of the government. The court’s judgment would have led to the company’s eviction, however, Kashyap said the government told the High Court it would not rely on the Tis Hazari court judgment.

“At the hearing in the High Court on Wednesday, we argued that the notice was illegal in so far as it rested on that judgment. This forced the government’s counsel to withdraw the operative portion of the notice that threatened eventual eviction, thereby granting us substantial relief…A formal stay was thus unnecessary precisely because the government itself gave up the operative basis of the threatened eviction, based on our arguments before the vacation bench — and that, in the circumstances, is substantive relief,” he said.

Kashyap added that the company had challenged the L&DO’s jurisdiction.“Any eviction must now begin afresh, on a fresh notice, with the government first proving that its 1960 ‘re-entry’ was valid — something it failed to establish in 49 years of trial — through a full inquiry with evidence and cross-examination, in which the residents, Hotel Ambassador, the Traders’ Association and the RWA are each entitled to be heard before the Director of Estates.”

He added that the company would place its position on record before the Estate Officer on Friday.

On April 22, the Supreme Court had given its judgment on one of the fundamental disputes between the government and the firm, saying the property was a “government grant”. After that, the L&DO had on April 30 issued a demand notice to the company for payment of Rs.940 crore for breaching lease conditions of Sujan Singh Park.

The government had given the 7.58 acre property — Sujan Singh Park North and South — to the company on perpetual lease on April 26, 1945. The company was to construct 100 flats that would be used by the government to house officers during World War II, after which 50% of the flats would be given to the company, with the government keeping 50% for use of its own officials, as per the lease. Over the years, however, the units in possession of the government fell to 14 flats, 39 servant quarters and 25 garages.