JASJIT FILMS PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in these writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution have prayed for a mandamus against the Delhi Development Authority (for short D.D.A.) :

(2.) Since most of the factual averments and the reliefs claimed are common to all the four writ petitions, we will examine in detail one writ petition, namely, C.W. Petition No. 443 of 1975 as a representative petition.

(3.) A plet of land measuring about 2972.41 Sq. Mts. situate at Shopping Centre, Karampura was given on perpetual lease under the Government Grants Act, 1895 to the petitioners for constructing a cinema house after accepting bid in an open tender. The tenders were invited by D.D.A. for the payment of annual rental/ground rent and not for premium. The land in question belongs to the Union of India but under section 21 of the Delhi Development Act, 1957 the D.D.A. is empowered to dispose of the land, inter-alia, by way of lease. On 16th June, 1969, the petitioners submitted a tender for Rs. 2,01,6001- for annual rental of the plot. On 28th September, 1969, the D.D.A. communicated its acceptance of the tender and called upon the petitioners to complete the lease-deed. The first payment of the annual rental was duly paid by the petitioners and possession of the plot was given to them on 26th March, 1970. The cinema house namely, Milan, was constructed by the petitioners and it started functioning from 12th of September, 1970. The petitioners failed to make the payment of the annual rental for the year 1972-73 within the stipulated time. The D.D.A., therefore, issued a demand notice to the petitioners. According to the terms of the lease-deed, D.D.A. can recover the arrears of annual rental as arrears of land revenue. After receiving the demand notices, the petitioners filed the writ petition on April 3, 1975.