City court grants conditional stay on the attachment of Bikaner House

In a major relief to the government of Rajasthan, Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Friday granted a conditional stay on the attachment of Bikaner House located on the iconic India Gate hexagon, which is owned by Nokha municipal council in Rajasthan.  The decision came during a hearing held before District Judge  Judge Vidya Prakash (Commercial Court-02), where the state government  filed its objections and argued that Bikaner House is a property owned by the government and not connected to Nagar Palika, Nokha.

District Judge Vidya Prakash issued the stay on the condition that dues owed by the Nagar Palika related to an arbitral award are deposited within a week.  During the hearing, the Rajasthan government filed an affidavit saying that state government filed an appeal against the order of the commercial court no 2. "We filed objections under Order XXI Rule 58 of the CPC, challenging the attachment order issued in favour of M/s Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd., the decree holder in the case against Nagar Palika, Nokha, the judgement debtor. We argued that Bikaner House is a property owned by the Government of Rajasthan and has no connection to Nagar Palika, Nokha,"  the counsel for the Rajasthan government said .The state government said the decree holder’s affidavit falsely claimed that Bikaner House is owned by Nagar Palika, Nokha. The Rajasthan government maintained in the court that the order was passed ex parte without giving an opportunity to the state government to present its case. “Now you have woken up from your slumber? How do you justify the lack of response? Despite repeated opportunities, you failed to file the assets,” District Judge (commercial court) Vidya Prakash said during the hearing at Patiala House Courts.