ASHA V. WADHWANI Vs. ARUN JETHMALANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The two plaintiffs, namely Asha V. Wadhwani and Rina V. Wahdwani, instituted this suit, (i) for declaration of their title and ownership of ground floor of property bearing No.B-59, East of Kailash, New Delhi; (ii) for recovery of possession thereof; and, (iii) for ancillary reliefs, against defendants No.1 to 8, namely (a) Arun Jethmalani, (b) Mohiney K. Jethmalani, (c) Ashish Hingorani, (d) C.V. Hingorani, (e) G.V. Hingorani, (f) Tulsi V. Hingorani, (g) Padma V. Hingorani and (h) Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

(2.) It was the case of the plaintiffs in the plaint, (i) that Devi Verhomal Hingorani was the owner of the property no. B-59, East of Kailash, New Delhi comprising of two and a half storey building with land underneath; (ii) that on demise of Devi Verhomal Hingorani, in accordance with her Will dated 26th October, 1979, defendant No.3 Ashish Hingorani (Ashish) became the owner of the ground floor of the property, defendants No.6&7 Tulsi V. Hingorani and Padma V. Hingorani became the owner of the first floor of the property; defendant No.5 G.V. Hingorani became the owner of the second floor of the property; defendant No.4 C.V. Hingorani was the named executor under the Will; (iii) that Ashish, vide Agreement to Sell dated 24th March, 1992 agreed to sell ground floor of the property to the plaintiffs and on receipt of entire purchase consideration from the plaintiffs, executed Will, Receipts, Affidavits, Indemnity Bonds, Special Power of Attorney in favour of the plaintiffs or their nominee V.T.Wadhwani and also put the plaintiffs into possession of the property; plaintiff No.1 is the mother of plaintiff No.2; (iv) that the plaintiffs, since 24th March, 1992 are in possession of the property; (v) that the plaintiffs, who were at Bangalore, permitted defendants No.1&2 Arun Jethmalani (Arun) and Mohiney K. Jethmalani (Mohiney), being closely related to the plaintiffs, access to the said ground floor, as care taker; Arun is son of Mohiney; (vi) that Mohiney is the sister of the husband of the plaintiff No.1 i.e. V.T.Wadhwani aforesaid; (vii) that sometime in April, 2010, Mohiney, during her telephone conversation with the husband of the plaintiff No.1, mentioned that the ground floor belonged to her as she had purchased the same from Ashish; (viii) the plaintiffs, on making enquiries learnt that the owners of the first and second floors of the property, in the first half of the year 2005, had executed certain documents including Special Power of Attorney dated 30th March, 2005 in favour of the husband/father namely Kessu Jethmalani, of Mohiney/Arun; (ix) that the plaintiffs also learnt that the husband/father of Mohiney/Arun had also obtained a Special Power of Attorney dated 18th July, 2005 from Ashish; (x) that the plaintiffs further learnt that the leasehold rights in the land underneath the property had been got converted into freehold vide Conveyance Deed dated 2nd December, 2005, jointly in favour of defendants No.3 to 7, to whom different portions of the property had been bequeathed under the Will of Devi Verhomal Hingorani; (xi) that the plaintiffs then got a Sale Deed dated 2nd November, 2011 executed with respect to the ground floor of the property in their favour from V.T. Wadhwani, being the attorney of Ashish, in pursuance to the Agreement to Sell dated 24th March, 1992 executed by Ashish in favour of the plaintiffs; and, (xii) that the plaintiff No.2, during her visit to Delhi in November, 2012 found that Arun had opened his office on the ground floor of the property and Arun and Mohiney were claiming themselves to be the owners in possession of the ground floor of the property.

(3.) The suit came up first before this Court on 21st January, 2013, when summons thereof were ordered to be issued to Arun, Mohiney and Ashish only and Arun, Mohiney and Ashish were restrained from creating any third party rights in the ground floor of the property. Vide subsequent order dated 19th July, 2017, the said order was made absolute till the disposal of the suit.