New Delhi: Eviction proceedings at Sujan Singh Park in the heart of the capital, that includes the Ambassador Hotel, will continue as Delhi High Court on Thursday declined to stay it.The court granted the Centre three weeks to reply to a petition by the owners of the entire 7.8-acre property, Sir Sobha Singh and Sons. It refused interim relief to the owners against a show-cause notice for eviction, where the matter is listed for hearing before the estate officer on July 10.Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar said: “They (estate office) are the statutory authorities. They will take care of it themselves.” It is “not going to direct how he has to conduct his proceedings”, the court said. The senior counsel for Sobha Singh & Sons had urged the court to grant interim relief as he apprehended that an eviction order could be passed on Friday itself by the estate office.The senior counsel also prayed that the court direct the estate officer to first decide on the maintainability of the eviction proceedings by the land & development office (L&DO) under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971. He said the estate officer was proceeding with undue haste and was not even affording the company a reasonable opportunity to present its case.The petitioner argued that despite preliminary objections, including on the issue of jurisdiction, the estate officer continued with the proceedings without deciding on those objections.The Centre’s lawyer opposed any relief and argued that the July 10 proceedings were listed only for filing govt’s reply to the petitioner’s applications. “Proceedings can continue. He says an eviction order is going to be passed tomorrow. (But) it is listed for filing of our reply on their applications,” standing counsel Ashish Dixit said.Sobha Singh and Sons has assailed the June 11 show-cause notice, contending that the estate officer has no jurisdiction because the company is not an “unauthorised occupant”. It said it has remained in uninterrupted possession of the property since 1943 and holds a registered govt grant dated Oct 8, 1945.The plea states that govt’s attempt to re-enter the property in 1960 was declared “wrong and illegal” by a trial court in an order in 2009.Though the verdict was overturned recently, the company’s appeal is pending before the high court, the plea said, terming the notice as an abuse of process.The plea argues that a longstanding title dispute cannot be decided in summary proceedings under the Public Premises Act and must instead be adjudicated by a civil court.The high court has posted the matter for Aug.
