U.T. Chandigarh Administration & Anr vs Amarjeet Singh And Ors

2. As the facts are similar, we will refer to the facts of only one case (CA No.1994/2006 arising from FA No.499/2003 on the file of the National Commission). The Estate Officer, Union Territory Chandigarh Administration issued an advertisement notifying the auction of 74 residential sites and 71 commercial sites in different sectors of Chandigarh, on leasehold basis subject to the General Terms and Conditions regarding auction. The relevant terms were :-

7. Feeling aggrieved, the appellants filed an appeal before the National Commission. The National Commission allowed the appeal in part by a common order dated 21.2.2005, and modified and restricted the reliefs granted by the U.T.Commission as follows :

(3) The complainants shall also pay the ground rent as per the prevailing rules.

8. The facts of the other appeals are also similar. Only the plot numbers/dates/amounts vary. CA No.1995/2006 arises out of FA No.500/2003 disposed by the said common order dated 21.2.2005. All other appeals arise from a common order dated 21.2.2007 of the National Commission which was passed in terms of the earlier order dated 21.2.2005, the only change being to alter the dates of rescheduled instalments as 1.5.2007, 1.5.2008 and 1.5.2009. The orders dated 21.2.2005 and 21.2.2007 of the National Commission are challenged in these appeals. GROUNDS OF CHALLENGE

(ii) Rent shall be payable annually on the due date without any demand from the Estate Officer:

14. Execution of lease deed.--(1) After payment of 25 per cent premium the lessee shall execute a lease deed in Form B, B-I, B-II or C, as the case may be, in such manner as may be directed by the Estate Officer within six months of the date of allotment/auction or within such further period as the Estate Officer may, for good and sufficient reasons, allow. 25

18.1) Shantikunj Investments related to an auction of leasehold rights of a site by the UT Chandigarh. In that case, the lessee found large number of jhuggis, adjacent to the plot which were not removed inspite of his repeated requests. He also found no amenities such as road, water, landscaping etc. Therefore the lessee filed a writ petition before the High Court seeking relief. The High Court declared that the UT Chandigarh having failed to provide the basic amenities, its order of resumption and forfeiture could not be sustained and therefore liable to be set aside. The High Court further directed that all amenities should be provided within three months and no interest shall be charged from the allottees if they pay the entire outstanding amount within three months from the date of providing amenities.

27. The appellants thus succeed on both grounds. We, therefore, allow these appeals by UT Chandigarh and set aside the orders dated 21.2.2005 and 21.2.2007 of the National Commission in the matters which are the subject matter of these appeals and dismiss the respective complaints filed by the respondents as not maintainable.

CA Nos.1674-1686 of 2009 [@ SLP [C] Nos.3271-3283 of 2008] 37

29. We have considered and rejected these contentions while dealing with the appeals by UT Chandigarh. In view of the dismissal of their complaints, these appeals do not survive and are dismissed.

__________________J [R. V. Raveendran] __________________J [Markandey Katju] New Delhi;

March 17, 2009