Court stays Estate Office's order to vacate hotel in Industrial Area

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, June 24

A local court has stayed the operation of the eviction notice of the Estate Office directing Garib Nawaz Hotels Ltd to hand over the vacant possession of Hotel Turquoise in the Industrial Area, Phase 2, Chandigarh, to the Estate Office within 15 days.

The court has passed the interim stay order on an appeal filed by Garib Nawaz Hotels Ltd against the notice issued by the Estate Office under the Public Premises Act (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupant).

The Estate Office issued the notice on June 9, 2023, under the Public Premises Act to the company to hand over the vacant premises within a period of 15 days from the date of issuance of notice.

Garib Nawaz Hotels Ltd, in the appeal filed under Section 9 of the Public Premises Act, stated that the notice was going to expire on June 24, 2023. The company stated that the notice had been issued on the ground that appeal against order dated September 5, 2018 for the cancellation of the industrial plot had been dismissed by the Chief Administrator, UT, vide order dated May 26, 2023.

The company said a revision petition against the order dated May 26, 2023 was pending before the UT Adviser for July 12.

The counsel for the company argued that the appellant was running a hotel on the plot and in case the hotel was sealed in pursuance of the notice dated June 9, 2023 and possession thereof was taken by the respondent, then the purpose of filing the revision petition before the UT Adviser as well as the present appeal will get defeated.

In the appeal, the company asserted that full payment of the plot had been made to the Estate Office and there was no default on the payment of the instalment amount.

The respondent has cancelled the site of the hotel on the ground of non-payment of part amount of conversion charges. The company claimed that the respondent (Estate Office) imposed 18 per cent interest illegally. There was a clause if there was a default in the payment of the instalment of the conversion charges, then the respondent will charge only 8.25 interest per cent per annum.

The counsel prayed before the court that the order issued by the Estate Office for eviction should be set aside as it had been passed without following the proper procedure envisaged in the law.

After hearing the arguments, the court said the contention of the appellant carried a weigh. Merit of the respective contention would be ascertained at the time of disposal of the present appeal. However in the interest of justice, the operation of the impugned notice dated June 9, 2023 was stayed till July 7.