1 week Ago By Vineet Upadhyay
NEW DELHI: Bikaner House , the quietly dignified structure at India Gate, was rescued from being a mere bus terminal for Rajasthan-bound buses some years ago. Its regal DNA was restored and it has since become a popular cultural hub, a melding of the old India of maharajas and a modern, culturally alive democratic country. Now a Delhi court , exasperated by the non-payment of an arbitral award of Rs 50.
3 lakh to an engineering firm by the municipality of Nokha, deemed owner of Bikaner House, has ordered the attachment of the former abode of the Rajasthan royals . State additional advocate general Shiv Mangal Sharma, who will represent Rajasthan in court, told TOI on Thursday that the state govt would seek an urgent stay on the order and challenge it in court. There was laxity on the part of the previous officer-in-charge and lawyer conducting the matter," Sharma said.
The next hearing in the original case is scheduled for Nov 29. The court of district judge Vidya Prakash told the Nokha Nagar Palika, deemed the owner of Bikaner House, that because of its failure to pay Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt Ltd Rs 50.3 lakh as arbitral award decided in Jan 2020, it was "prohibited and restrained, until the further order of this court, from transferring or charging the property (Bikaner House) specified in the schedule hereunto annexed, by sale, gift or otherwise, and that all persons be, and that they are hereby, prohibited from receiving the same by purchase, gift or otherwise".
Built during the rule of Maharaja Ganga Singh of the princely state of Bikaner and opened on Feb 18, 1929, Bikaner House served as the residence of the royal family in the Indian capital. Diverse events ranging from art exhibitions and book launches to jazz performances in its grand ballroom, art gallery and rear lawns are organised regularly there after its restoration after languishing as a bus terminal for decades. The court noted that the 2020 arbitral award amounting to Rs 50,31,512 passed in favour of Enviro Infra Engineers attained finality with an appeal of the nagar palika being dismissed in Sept this year.
The court noted the continued absence of any representation on the part of Nagar Palika for the purpose of execution of the arbitral award and also said that the municipality had failed to comply with a court order to file details of its assets despite several opportunities granted to it. Underlining that Bikaner House belonged to the nagar palika, the court issued the attachment warrant. "Keeping in view the aforesaid facts and circumstances and the fact that the JD (judgment debtor) failed to comply with the direction for furnishing an affidavit of their assets despite the grant of repeated opportunities, the court, while agreeing with the submissions made on behalf of DH (decree holder), finds it a fit case for issuance of warrants of attachment against the immovable property of JD i.
e. Bikaner House, New Delhi," the court said in its Sept 18 order. The court also directed the nagar palika to be in court on Nov 29 to take notice of the date fixed for "settling the terms of the proclamation of sale".
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