Bikaner House Attachment Case: Delhi Court Orders Release Of Rs.92 Lakh

Bikaner House Attachment Case

The Patiala House Court in a significant ruling, ordered the release of Rs.92 lakh in favor of M/s Enviro Infra Private Limited concerning an arbitration dispute with Nagar Palika Nokha, Rajasthan.

District Judge (Commercial) Vidya Prakash delivered this decision after a thorough review of arguments presented by both parties.

Nagar Palika had previously deposited the sum with the court following an attachment order on Bikaner House in New Delhi. This attachment was later conditionally suspended, contingent upon the payment of the due amount. The High Court had already dismissed Nagar Palika’s appeal challenging the trial court’s determination.

The arbitration award, favoring M/s Enviro Infra Private Limited, pertained to work undertaken for Nagar Palika in 2011. On January 7, the court provided Nagar Palika additional time to secure a stay from the High Court, emphasizing that failure to do so would result in the immediate release of funds to the company. An earlier conditional stay on the attachment of Bikaner House, granted on November 29, mandated Nagar Palika to deposit the outstanding amount within a week.

The case revolves around the enforcement of an arbitral award granted to M/s Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd. Recently, the court reaffirmed its order for the attachment of Bikaner House, a property under the ownership of Nagar Palika Nokha. Advocate Sahil Garg, representing the decree-holder company, stated that the court had sanctioned a conditional stay, warning that “should the opposing party fail to deposit the fixed deposit, we will initiate proceedings for the auction of the attached property, now valued at nearly one crore.”

Earlier, the court had directed the attachment of Bikaner House due to the Judgment Debtor’s (JD) repeated noncompliance with its directives. Despite multiple opportunities, Nagar Palika failed to furnish an affidavit disclosing its assets. Consequently, the court found sufficient grounds to issue warrants for the attachment of Bikaner House in New Delhi.

In its order dated September 18, the court emphasized: “Since the arbitral award dated January 21, 2020, in favor of M/s Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd. for Rs. 50,31,512 remains unsatisfied, it is hereby ordered that Nagar Palika, Nokha, State of Rajasthan, is prohibited and restrained from transferring or encumbering the specified property until further court directives.

Additionally, all individuals are prohibited from acquiring the said property through purchase, gift, or any other means.”

The ongoing execution petition seeks the enforcement of the arbitral award dated January 21, 2020, issued by the Arbitral Tribunal. The court observed that Nagar Palika had previously filed a petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (OMP(COMM) No. 178/2023, titled Nagar Palika, Nokha, State of Rajasthan v. M/s Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd.) in an attempt to contest the award. However, this petition was dismissed on January 24, 2024.

The counsel representing the decree-holder reiterated the urgency of issuing attachment warrants against the Judgment Debtor’s immovable property, specifically Bikaner House, New Delhi.