EAST INDIA HOTEL LTD Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an unsuccessful writ petitioner's appeal against the judgment and order dated 03.07.2008 of the learned learned Single Judge rejecting its claim.

(2.) The facts leading up to this dispute can be divided into three phases. The first starts in 1981, when the Land and Development Officer (L&DO) of the Ministry of Urban Affairs, Government of India, allotted 2.762 acres of land (the property in question in the present dispute and hereafter called "the plot") to the Appellant to build a 250 room hotel and other related facilities for the Asian Games in terms of a letter dated 21.02.1981. As the construction was to be completed in time for the Asian Games in 1982, the Appellant informed the L&DO that such a project was not feasible in that time span and thus, the allotment was cancelled. This cancellation is not disputed by either party in this case.

(3.) The second phase begins on 18th June, 1983, when the land was allotted by the Ministry of Urban Affairs, Government of India to the Delhi Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (DTTDC) to construct a budget hotel. Clause 8 of the said agreement is pertinent to this dispute. It reads: