The Patiala House Court has extended the interim stay on the attachment of Bikaner House after Nagar Palika Nokha, Rajasthan, deposited Rs. 92.24 lakh in the court.
This amount was submitted as part of a dispute stemming from an arbitration award in favor of M/s Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd. for work done in 2011. The court granted one week to Nagar Palika to provide evidence of any stay granted by the Delhi High Court; otherwise, the funds will be released to the company.
Advocate Sahil Garg, representing M/s Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd., raised concerns regarding a mismatch in the deposited amount. The court instructed the opposing counsel to address this issue by the next hearing date, February 1, 2025.
Additionally, the court directed the counsel for the Rajasthan government to present objections related to the court’s order.
This case involves an arbitration award passed in 2020 in favor of the company for services rendered to Nagar Palika Nokha. On November 29, 2024, the court granted a conditional stay on the attachment of Bikaner House, provided the due amount was deposited within a week. Failure to comply with this order would have led to the auction of the attached property.
The dispute began when Nagar Palika failed to comply with an earlier order to furnish an affidavit of assets. As a result, the court issued a warrant of attachment for Bikaner House, located in New Delhi, on November 7, 2024, after concluding that the Judgment Debtor (JD) had not complied with repeated opportunities for resolution. The court noted that Nagar Palika had failed to satisfy the arbitral award for Rs 50,31,512 passed in favor of M/s Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd. on January 21, 2020.
Consequently, the court prohibited Nagar Palika from transferring or charging the property until further notice.
The arbitration petition was filed to enforce the award, and despite Nagar Palika’s petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, challenging the award, the Delhi High Court dismissed it on January 24, 2024.
As the case progresses, the next hearing will determine if the attached property will be sold to satisfy the claim.
