New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday directed the attachment of Bikaner House, now owned by Nokha municipal council in Rajasthan. The order comes after the council managing the iconic building failed to pay arbitral award of Rs 50.31 lakh to a company, “despite multiple opportunity”. The order was passed by District Judge Vidya Prakash, who noted that the 2020 arbitral award in favour of Enviro Infra Engineers Private Limited has attained finality after an appeal preferred by the Nagar Palika was dismissed earlier this year.
It is worth noting that an order passed on September 18, the judge observed that the Delhi's iconic building owners did not comply to the court's order.
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"Keeping in view the fact that the Judgement Debtor (JD) had failed to comply with the direction for furnishing affidavit of their assets despite grant of repeated opportunities, the court, while agreeing with the submissions made on behalf of Decree Holder (DH), finds it a fit case for issuance of warrants of attachment against immovable property of JD namely Bikaner House, New Delhi," the judge said, reported the news agency PTI.
The bench was hearing a petition seeking enforcement of the arbitral award that was passed by arbitral tribunal on January 21, 2020. Meanwhile, the court has restrained the Nagar Palika of Nokha from transferring or charging the property by sale, gift or otherwise. However, the bench has directed the Nokha Nagar Palika representative to appear before the court on November 29, the next date of hearing.
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Once a Meeting Spot for Royal Families
Around the time of Indian independence in 1947, Bikaner House was the venue for many important meetings between Indian royal families, who deliberated their futures. This was where they considered the accession policy that would allow them to formally join independent India, said the website of Bikaner House.