On 28th June, a bench of Delhi High Court consisting of Justice C. Hari Shankar directed the Delhi Development Authority to maintain status quo in demolishing a property which is the subject matter of a pending suit. Such direction has been made by the court subject to the decision of the appropriate court on the petitioner’s application for restoration.
Facts of the case:
The present petition had been preferred by the petitioner before the learned Senior Civil Judge, Saket, challenging the proposal of the DDA to demolish the property of the petitioner located at D66/3, Gautam Nagar, New Delhi. The said suit was dismissed by the learned Senior Civil Judge, vide order dated 8th April, 2021, under Order XVII Rule 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. The petitioner moved an application for restoration of the suit before the high court. Thus the petition seeks a restraint on the respondents demolishing the property till final decision in SCJ 82888/2016.
Contention of the petitioner:
Mr. Sunil Dalal, learned Standing Counsel for the petitioner, submitted the following:
- It was stated that as the presiding officer of the court which was dealing with the petitioner’s suit is not sitting, the application for restoration has not been listed.
- It was also submitted that given the present scenario, in which the trial courts are functioning only on a virtual and restricted mode, he submits that despite his client’s best efforts, it has not been possible to have the restoration application listed before the Court.
- It was further contended that his client has been constrained to move the present petition before this Court as the respondents are taking action to demolish the aforesaid property.
- Mr. Dalal states fairly that he seeks status quo regarding the aforesaid property till the decision on the restoration application filed by his client.
Contention of the respondent:
Mr. Dhanesh Relan, learned Standing Counsel for the DDA, submitted that the the property of the petitioner has already been demolished, though the said assertion is disputed by Mr. Sunil Dalal, on instructions.
Observation and Judgement of the court:
The Hon’ble bench observed the following:
- The petitioner cannot be subjected to prejudice merely because of difficulty in having his application for restoration listed before the court, given the present strained circumstances.
- The DDA shall maintain status quo as of now, as it exists at 05:30 p.m. on 28th June, 2021, till and subject to the decision of the appropriate court on the petitioner’s application for restoration.
Thus, while disposing of the petition the court directed the learned District Judge (South), Saket to assign a suitable court to consider the application filed by the petitioner for restoration of SCJ 82888/2016 and have the matter listed before the said court on 7th July, 2021.
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