IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.7226 of 2008 Date of Decision : August 12, 2010. The Director, North West India Baptish Association (Regd. .....Petitioner versus Union Territory, Chandigarh and others .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT. Present : Mr.Ram Saran Dass, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr.Deepak Sharma, Advocate, for the respondents. -.- 1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? --- Surya Kant, J. (Oral) The petitioner-Society has been allotted a school site measuring 8232.53 square yards in Sector-45-D, Chandigarh vide allotment letter dated 19.12.1997 (Annexure P-1) on leasehold basis. The petitioner paid 25% of the total premium but defaulted towards the first and second instalments which were deposited by it in part only. As a result thereto, the respondents, as per the terms and conditions of the allotment, imposed penalty of 10% of the premium amount and 100% on the ground rent, thereby asking the petitioner to deposit an additional amount of Rs.5,67,158/-. C.W.P.No .7226 of 2008 2 It is not in dispute that pursuant to the orders passed by the Chief Commissioner, U.T., Chandigarh, the petitioner has already deposited the due instalments; the building has been constructed and the school is functional. The solitary issue that arises for consideration is as to whether, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the imposition of 100% penalty by the respondents is justified or does it suffers from the vice of arbitrariness? The petitioner relies upon a Division Bench judgment of this Court in Vijay Soni and others versus Chief Commissioner, Union Territory, Chandigarh and others, 2001 HRR 641, wherein imposition of 100% penalty due to 8 months' delay in payment of the ground rent, was held to be arbitrary and was reduced to 50% only. On the other hand, learned Senior Standing Counsel for the U.T. Administration, relies upon another Division Bench decision of this Court in Batra Finance Private Limited versus Chandigarh Administration and others, 1996 HRR 128, wherein imposition of 100% penalty was approved after taking notice of the fact that the allottee had failed to pay the lease amount for a long period from 1977 to 1991. Both the decisions relied upon by the parties are founded upon the peculiar facts and circumstances of each case. Adverting to the case in hand, the petitioner admittedly failed to deposit the full amount of first and second instalments on time and the default/delay was not for a long duration. The fact of the matter is that the petitioner-Association, in compliance to the orders passed by the appellate authority has deposited all the dues and has constructed the school building also. In the light of the C.W.P.No .7226 of 2008 3 facts of the case in hand, I am of the considered view that the interest of justice would be adequately met if the petitioner is directed to pay 50% of the penalty amount imposed on it. Consequently, the writ petition is allowed in part and the respondents are directed to refund half of the amount of Rs.5,67,158/- to the petitioner without any interest thereupon, within a period of three months from the date of receiving a certified copy of this order. Disposed of. Dasti. August 12 2010 (SURYA KANT) Mohinder JUDGE