IMPORTANT POINT
The court ruled that a petitioner cannot claim restoration of a lease after eviction, as the lease determination extinguishes any legal rights to the property.

JUDGMENT :

1. The petitioner is invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 1950, for issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction, thereby seeking the following reliefs:

“I. Issue a Writ of Certiorari, or any other appropriate Writs, orders quashing the order dated 09/10/2019 (Annexure P-1) and directing the respondent to restore the determined perpetual lease dated 20/04/1992 of the petitioner.

II. Issue a Writ of Mandamus, or any other appropriate Writs, Orders restoring the determined perpetual lease of the petitioner and to handover the possession of the lease land to the petitioner.

III. Issue a Writ of Mandamus, or any other appropriate Writs, Orders to respondents to permit the petitioner to get the land use converted from Industrial to Commercial/Banquet Halls after paying the conversion charge for the same.”

BRIEF FACTS:

2. The petitioner company claims that the physical possession of A-22, Mangolpuri Industrial Area, Phase-II, Delhi, (hereinafter referred as the ‘subject property’) was handed over to the petitioner on 22.12.1987 and later on a perpetual lease deed dated 20.04.1992 was executed in its favour by Delhi Development Authority [“DDA”] for subject property, upon which it spent a huge amount to raise construct of a building; and that he obtained an Industrial license on 13.01.1995 from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for manufacturing polythene bags and related materials. It is stated that since the Supreme Court banned the operations of all the polluting industries in Delhi, consequently the manufacturing business had to be stopped. It is stated that the supply of electricity to the premises was also disconnected because of non-payment of bills by the petitioner, and therefore as an alternative, in order to continue with some work, the petitioner started a small catering business from the said plot.

3. It is then the case of the petitioner that it received a SCN titled “Final Show Cause Notice” dated 10.05.2000 alleging misuse of the subject property which was responded vide reply dated 25.05.2000; and further SCNs were received dated 31.03.2001 and 4.12.2002 each time adding a new ground not espoused in the earlier one; and that after around 5 years, notice order dated 21.11.2005 was received whereby the lease deed was determined. This led to initiation of proceedings for eviction of petitioner under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 [“PP Act”] before the Estate Officer.

4. It is the case of the petitioner that during the pendency of proceedings before the Estate Officer the respondent came up with a policy for conversion of Industrial Plots for commercial usage/for use as banquet halls sometime in February, 2009; and that the petitioner submitted numerous letters cum undertakings dated 06.08.2012, 17.01.2013, 11.02.2013, 13.02.2013, 21.03.2013, 05.04.2013, 01.05.2013 and 06.11.2013 that no misuse would be done and they are ready to pay any penalty as imposed by the respondent but in vain.

5. It is the grievance of the petitioner that despite several notices issued by the Estate Officer, the DDA never responded and eventually, the Estate Officer passed an eviction order dated 04.02.2016, directing the petitioner to vacate the premises; and since the premises was lying unused, the officials of the DDA took over the possession of the subject property sometime on 19.08.2016. Aggrieved thereof, the petitioner instituted an appeal before the Court of learned District and Session Judge (North-West) Rohini Courts, Delhi, who vide order dated 27.09.2016 directed the parties to maintain status quo with respect to the subject property.

6. It is further the case of the petitioner that the respondent DDA published a Public Notice dated 22.03.2019 in several prominent newspapers wherein it was informed that the process has been initiated for restoration of determined lease deeds for properties belonging to residential, commerci