RIVIERA APARTMENTS P LTD Vs. GOVERNOR OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Review Petition has been filed by the petitioners seeking a review of the judgment dated 15.11.2006 passed by this Court dismissing Writ Petition (C) No.2956 of 1994. We have heard Shri Shanti Bhushan, learned Senior Advocate, appearing on behalf of the Review Petitioners at some length. He submits at the outset that without prejudice to their contentions, the petitioners are willing to deposit the entire amount as directed by this Hon'ble Court immediately and that the purpose of this review petition is essentially to seek the expunging of certain remarks and findings that the petitioners were guilty of fraud, misrepresentation and suppression of facts.

(2.) Shri Shanti Bhushan next submitted that the judgment dated 15.11.2006 contains several glaring errors which are apparent from the record. The first of these, according to him is that the judgment refers to an affidavit dated 13.4.1992 sworn to by petitioner No.2 which he says was not part of the record of the present case and therefore ought not to have been referred to by the Court particularly when none of the parties had during the course of arguments referred to the said affidavit. Although he does not dispute that the said affidavit formed part of the rejoinder filed in the application being CM No.11559 of 2000 filed by Shri K. Narendra in the writ petition, he says it nevertheless should not have been looked into by this Court since ultimately this Court did not accept the prayer made in the said application. He further submits that since the petitioners did not have occasion to refer to the said affidavit, reliance on such affidavit by the Court to draw adverse inference against the petitioners is a violation of the principles of natural justice.

(3.) In order to appreciate this contention, the facts of the present case, although exhaustively narrated in our main judgment dated 15.11.2006, will require to be briefly recounted. The basic dispute concerns the payment of a sum of Rs.71.34 lakhs to the petitioners by the Land Acquisition Collector ('LAC') in land acquisition proceedings concerning 153.98 sq.m of land at 6, Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi. An agreement to sell dated 25.7.1972 in respect of the property, of which the acquired land formed part, had been executed between petitioner No.1 and Shri K.Narendra. The petitioners were to build residential flats on the said property. A power of attorney had also executed in their favour by the said Shri Narendra. On the strength of the power of attorney, the petitioners had applied for and obtained an exemption from the competent authority under the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 (ULCRA), by an order dated 26.4.1985. Clause 12 of this exemption order contained an express condition that any portion of the exempted land required for road widening purposes would be surrendered to the government for which compensation would be paid under the ULCRA.