Sujan Singh Park: SC sets aside eviction order against Centre

The Supreme Court granted the Centre immunity from eviction over unpaid rent for properties in Sujan Singh Park, citing a pre-Independence government grant.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted immunity from eviction to the central government over non-payment of rent for properties it occupies in Capital’s upscale Sujan Singh Park, holding that the relationship between the Centre and the lessee is governed by a pre-Independence government grant and not the conventional Delhi Rent Control (DRC) Act.

The decision came as a relief to the Centre, which was in possession of 14 flats, 39 servant quarters, and 25 garages at Sujan Singh Park, located next to south Delhi’s Khan Market.

The decision came as a relief to the Centre, which was in possession of 14 flats, 39 servant quarters, and 25 garages at Sujan Singh Park, located next to south Delhi’s Khan Market. The Centre had suffered setbacks as the Rent Controller Tribunal (RCT) upheld eviction over non-payment of rent in 2007, which was then confirmed by the Delhi High Court on January 8, 2020.

Deciding the Centre’s appeal after six years, a bench of justices Sanjay Karol and PK Mishra said, “The DRC Act, being a legislation intended to regulate conventional tenancies arising under the general law, does not extend to nor govern a holding originating in and regulated by a government grant.”

The HC order had come in favour of the lessee – Sir Sobha Singh & Sons Pvt Ltd, heirs of Sir Sobha Singh, who originally obtained the perpetual lease in 1945 to construct flats over 7.58 acres of land. The lease was executed by the governor general in council on December 4, 1944.

The Centre was paying ₹2,400 per month per flat but defaulted for April 1, 1989, to March 31, 1991, totalling ₹63,360. The lessee filed an eviction petition in 1991. The top court had stayed the eviction order against the Centre in 2022.

Justice Mishra, writing for the bench, said, “In view of our categorical finding that the DRC Act has no manner of application to the present litigation, the very foundation upon which the learned ARC assumed jurisdiction to entertain the eviction suit stands eroded… The eviction proceedings… are thus vitiated at their inception.”

Both the ARC and RCT, according to the bench, proceeded on the “misplaced” footing that there exists a conventional landlord-tenant relationship without construing the lease in the light of its origin in a government grant.

The top court held that Section 3 of the GG Act confers upon government grants a special statutory immunity and elevates the stipulations contained therein to a position of supremacy. “The grant must operate according to its tenor, and its silence cannot be converted into a ground of forfeiture. The respondent’s right, therefore, is confined to recovery of rent in accordance with law,” the court held.

Setting aside the HC order, the bench stated, “The Delhi High Court, in affirming the said course on the premise that the respondent would otherwise be left without a remedy, with respect, misdirected itself.” It held there is no express provision in the lease deed or GG Act providing for eviction on account of non-payment of rent.

The lease was granted on an understanding that up to 50% of flats would be rented to the government at nominal rates. A total of 42 flats were provided to the Centre. Arrears mounted as the Centre discontinued payment, citing breaches in the lease agreement. The Centre claimed it had cleared the rent arrears in October 2021.