ANIL KAPOOR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner assails the validity of an order dtd. 6/9/2017 passed by the respondents pursuant to which their prayer for conversion of the subject property from leasehold to freehold has come to be rejected. As would be evident from a reading of the impugned order, the respondents have taken the position that the application has not been signed by a person who is eligible to apply for conversion and that since the transfer also involved the conveyance of the share of minors without the permission of the competent court, the prayer as made was liable to be refused. Although the impugned order refers to 'clause 20.5', it is admitted before this Court on behalf of the respondents that no such clause exists or stands incorporated in the lease deed in question. The twin objections taken in the impugned order admittedly rest on the singular fact of the rights of minors having been transferred without the requisite permission of the competent court. Before proceedings to deal with the merits of the objection taken by the respondents, it would be apposite to notice the following essential facts.

(2.) The petitioners disclose that one Ugar Sain Mohan was granted leasehold rights in respect of the property in question. He is stated to have bequeathed his interest in the property to his four sons Madan Lal Mohan, Mukund Lal Mohan, Prahlad Chander Mohan and Fit. LT. Subhash Mohan in terms of a Will executed on 28/3/1986. The record further reflects that the original lessee died on 14/4/1987. The daughters of the original lessee have submitted their no objection in respect of their respective shares in the property and for the same devolving upon the sons exclusively. The submission of the aforesaid no objection is also not disputed by the respondents. In fact, it has come on the record that pursuant to the aforesaid no objection submitted by the daughters of the original lessee, the name of the four sons came to be duly mutated.

(3.) Flt. Lt. Subhash Mohan, one of the sons of the original lessee is stated to have died on 8/1/1991. He left behind a last will and testament dtd. 18/3/1986 bequeathing all his movable and immovable properties in favour of his wife Smt. Vineeta Mohan. Upon the death of Flt. Lt. Subhash Mohan and in terms of the aforesaid will, his widow came to acquire 1/4th undivided share in the leased premises. The three surviving sons as well as the widow of Flt. Lt. Subhash Mohan are thereafter stated to have executed agreements to sell with respect to the subject property in favour of the petitioners here. The petitioners are stated to have been inducted into physical possession of the subject property pursuant to the said agreements to sell in February 1991. The petitioners upon acquiring interest in the lease property applied for its conversion to freehold in 2011. They are also stated to have submitted the monies as demanded by the L&DO authorities from time to time. However, their right to seek conversion of the property from leasehold to freehold has come to be refused in terms of the order impugned.