A Delhi court has directed the attachment of Bikaner House, owned by Nokha municipal council in Rajasthan, located in the India Gate hexagon in the national capital, after it failed to pay an arbitral award of Rs 50.31 lakh to a company.
“… It is ordered that you, the said Nagar Palika, Nokha, State of Rajasthan… are hereby, prohibited and restrained, until further orders of this court, from transferring or charging the property specified in the schedule hereunto annexed, by sale, gift or otherwise…” said District Judge Vidya Prakash in the order dated November 7.
In an earlier order on September 18, the judge had noted the non-compliance of the court’s directions. The court also noted that the 2020 arbitral award in favour of Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt Ltd has attained finality after an appeal preferred by the Nagar Palika was dismissed earlier this year.
Following the developments, the Rajasthan government on Thursday issued instructions to take immediate “corrective actions”, officials said, engaging Additional Advocate General Shiv Mangal Sharma to represent the state’s interests in this matter and directing him “to take all necessary legal steps” to secure the property and obtain a stay on the attachment order.
Sources said that the court order led to top state officials “raising serious concerns”. The government’s action plan includes engaging legal experts and taking immediate legal steps, which include challenging the attachment order and filing for an urgent stay.
On September 18, the judge said: “Keeping in view the aforesaid facts and circumstances and the fact that the JD (judgment debtor which is the Nagar Palika) had failed to comply with the direction for furnishing an affidavit of their assets despite grant of repeated opportunities, the Court, while agreeing with submissions made on behalf of DH (Decree Holder), finds it a fit case for issuance of warrants of attachment.” —With ENS, Jaipur
