Centre opposes pleas seeking stay of Delhi Gymkhana Club eviction notice

The Centre has opposed a plea in the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on fresh eviction proceedings against the Delhi Gymkhana Club.

The Centre has opposed petitions filed in the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the fresh eviction proceedings against the Delhi Gymkhana Club (DGC), contending that the same were not maintainable, as the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain them.

The Centre has opposed a plea seeking a stay in the Delhi High Court on fresh eviction proceedings against the Delhi Gymkhana Club. (Reuters)

In an affidavit filed through standing counsel Ashish K Dixit, the Centre submitted that the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, expressly barred civil courts from granting any injunction with respect to action taken or proposed to be taken by the Estate Officer. It contended that the Estate Officer alone had the jurisdiction to adjudicate the applications arising from eviction proceedings.

“The bar is twofold: (i) it ousts civil court jurisdiction over any suit or proceeding “in respect of the eviction” of a person alleged to be in unauthorised occupation of public premises; and (ii) it independently prohibits the grant of any injunction in respect of any action taken or to be taken by the Estate Officer.

The present Application, which seeks precisely such an injunction restraining the Estate Officer from proceeding with the SCN, falls squarely within the express prohibition of Section 15,” the affidavit filed on Monday read.

It added, “The PP Act supplies its own complete adjudicatory and appellate machinery Section 4 (notice to show cause), Section 5 (order of eviction after inquiry), Section 8 (powers of the Estate Officer, including taking of evidence), and Section 9 (appeal to a judicial officer not below the rank of District Judge). This complete code is what renders the Section 15 bar sound and leaves no residual necessity for civil court intervention.”

The affidavit has been filed in response to an application filed by longstanding member Vijay Khurana and DGC staff welfare association to stay the Centre’s June 29 notice issued under the PP Act.

To be sure, the application against the June 29 notice, along with the suit challenging the May 22 notice, was listed before a bench of justice Avneesh Jhingan on Tuesday. The same was adjourned for September 3 after Khurana’s counsel AM Singhvi submitted that it had received the Centre’s affidavit late Monday and sought time to respond.

In its application, Khurana and the staff association had asserted that the June 29 show-cause notice was based on “entirely erroneous and premature assumptions”, as it was issued even as their suit challenging the Centre’s May 22 notice directing the club to vacate the premises by June 5 remained pending before the high court, where the validity of the lease termination was yet to be decided.

​​On May 22, the Centre directed the club to hand over its premises at 2, Safdarjung Road, to the Land and Development Office (L&DO) by June 5, invoking a public-purpose clause in the original lease deed. The order stated the property’s location in a “highly sensitive and strategic area”, required to strengthen defence infrastructure and serve public security needs.