Delhi court defers attachment of iconic Bikaner House

The order came after the Rajasthan government contested the attachment saying Bikaner House does not belong to the municipal authority. The court expressed displeasure over the delayed response from the state government. “Now you have woken up from your slumber? How do you justify the lack of response? Despite repeated opportunities, you failed to file the assets,” District Judge (commercial court) Vidya Prakash said during the hearing at Patiala House Courts.

The court clarified that the attachment of Bikaner House, a heritage property located near India Gate in New Delhi, would be deferred only if the municipal authority deposits the awarded amount in the form of a fixed deposit receipt (FDR) by the deadline. It fixed January 7 as the next date of the hearing to monitor compliance.

Bikaner House is a historic property built during the rule of Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner. Once the princely state’s headquarters in Delhi, it represents Rajasthan’s architectural and cultural heritage.

The dispute traces back to a 2020 arbitral award favouring Enviro Infra Engineers, which constructed a sewage treatment plant for Nokha town in Rajasthan. Despite the arbitral tribunal’s ruling, the payment remained pending, prompting the enterprise to approach the Delhi court for enforcement.

After repeated non-compliance with court directions to file an affidavit disclosing assets, the court issued an attachment order for Bikaner House in September 2023. The Rajasthan government’s belated objections came after the prohibitory order was issued on November 7, restraining any transfer or sale of the property.

The Rajasthan government, represented by additional advocate general Shiv Mangal Sharma, argued that the municipal authority does not own Bikaner House. “The property belongs to the state government, and the attachment order cannot stand,” Sharma said.

The court expressed its displeasure with the Nokha municipal authority’s repeated defiance, noting that despite ample opportunities to disclose assets or comply with the award, the municipal body failed to act responsibly.

Warning that failure to comply could revive the attachment order, Judge Prakash emphasised that the deposit of the awarded amount must be completed within the stipulated time.

This conflict originated in 2011 when Nokha Municipal Corporation awarded a contract to Enviro Infra Engineers for designing and constructing a sewage treatment plant. While the project was completed by 2016, the final payment was allegedly withheld, prompting the contractor to seek arbitration.

In January 2020, the arbitral tribunal ruled in favour of the company, directing the municipal authority to pay ₹50.31 lakh. Persistent delays in compliance led the private firm to seek judicial enforcement.

In its September 18 order, the court said: “The judgement debtor [Municipal Corporation of Nokha] had failed to comply with the direction for furnishing an affidavit of their assets despite repeated opportunities… it is a fit case for issuance of warrants of attachment against the immovable property.”

The attached property (Bikaner House) was identified based on information available in the public domain and from official Rajasthan government sources.

Advocates Sahil Garg and Abhinav Jain, representing the private enterprise, submitted before the court that the Municipal Corporation of Nokha was not an autonomous body but an entity of the Rajasthan government, which owns the Bikaner House.

With no responses from the state government coming forth, a prohibitory order was subsequently issued on November 7, restraining the civic body and the Rajasthan government from transferring or selling the property. The court directed the municipal authority to appear on November 29 for further proceedings.

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