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New Delhi Municipal Council v. Ganga Devi

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 549Decided 27 Sept 2021
Civil Appeal No. 310 of 2015
Justice Hemant Gupta · Justice V. Ramasubramanian

Background

A shop at Baba Kharag Singh Marg market in New Delhi was originally allotted under a government license that banned subletting, but the allottee's family sublet and then transferred it to an occupant in violation of that condition. When the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) later took over administration of the market and ordered the occupant's eviction, the occupant argued she should be allowed to regularize her ownership under policies applicable to other markets. The case ultimately covered four connected appeals arising from a common High Court order that had sided with the occupant.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that NDMC only administered the markets as a delegate of the Union Government and could only apply the Union's own regularization policy, not a more lenient one of its own, and the occupant did not qualify under the Union's actual cut-off-date policy (occupation before 20.10.1989) or the specific 14-markets scheme (which excluded this market). It also found that the original license was clearly violated through an undisclosed partnership and transfer. The Court set aside both the High Court's Division Bench and Single Bench rulings and restored the original eviction order, while giving the occupants until 30 November 2021 to vacate.

Lesson Learnt

Licensees who sublet or transfer government-allotted premises in breach of license conditions cannot later claim regularization rights meant for a different category of occupants, and a local body administering property on behalf of the central government cannot apply more generous rules than the government's own policy permits.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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