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Rajiv Vohra v. The State of Haryana and Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 249Decided 21 Feb 2019
Civil Appeal No. 1932 of 2019
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice Hemant Gupta

Background

The appellant won an auction in 1996 for a commercial booth in Faridabad allotted by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) for Rs. 7,55,000, paying only about 25% of the price before defaulting on the balance despite repeated notices over several years. The Estate Officer resumed (cancelled) the allotment in 2001 for non-payment; an appellate authority initially set aside the resumption on conditions, but a revision restored it, and the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the resumption, noting 20 years had passed with the appellant still not complying.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found the appellant was a "rank defaulter" who, despite multiple opportunities over more than two decades, never paid the balance sale consideration, and who had also executed a General Power of Attorney in a manner the High Court rightly viewed as an attempted assignment of the litigation. The Court declined to invoke its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to protect what it called an "unscrupulous buyer," noting the booth's market value had risen to roughly Rs. 2.14 crores against the appellant's token payment of under Rs. 9 lakhs. It confirmed the resumption order and directed that the Rs. 20 lakhs the appellant had deposited with the Registry (under an earlier interim order) be adjusted by HUDA towards unauthorized-occupation charges from 1996, with any surplus refunded with interest, and liberty to HUDA to recover any shortfall.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will not use their broad equitable powers to rescue a buyer who repeatedly defaults on payment obligations for allotted property over many years: prolonged non-compliance, especially coupled with attempts to transfer the dispute to others via power of attorney, forfeits any claim to extraordinary relief.

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

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