Delhi District Court
M/S Gujrat Agencies vs . Pant Nagar Resident'S Welfare on 10 January, 2023
IN THE COURT OF MS. CHITRANSHI ARORA , CIVIL
JUDGE-02, SOUTH-EAST DISTRICT, SAKET COURTS,
NEW DELHI.
CS SCJ 233/18
M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare
Associate (Regd.) & Ors.
In the matter of: -
M/s Gujrat Agencies
Through its proprietor,
Plot no. 33/ Shop no. 05,
Jangpura Road,
Bhogal, New Delhi-110014 ................Plaintiff
VS.
1. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.)
Through its General Secretary & President
Office at: - 15/12, Pant Nagar,
Jangpura, New Delhi-110014 .......... Defendant no.1
2. Sh. Ramesh Anand, President
Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.)
Office at: - 15/12, Pant Nagar,
Jangpura, New Delhi-110014 .......... Defendant no.2
3. Sh. Rajiv Chopra, General Secretary,
Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.)
Office at: - 34/11, Pant Nagar,
Jangpura, New Delhi-110014 .......... Defendant no.3
CS SCJ 233/18
M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.) & Ors.
Page no. 1 of 12
SUIT FOR PERMANENT INJUNCTION
Date of institution of the suit :27.02.2018
Judgment reserved on :10.01.2023
Date of judgment :10.01.2023
JUDGMENT
1. Vide this judgment, I shall decide the present suit for permanent injunction filed by the plaintiff seeking to restrain the defendants from stopping the commercial activity carried out by the plaintiff in the Pant Nagar colony.
BRIEF FACTS AS PER THE PLAINT: -
2. The proprietor of the plaintiff Sh. Hiren Upadhyaya, is a resident of flat No. 177, pocket -F, Sarita Vihar, Mathura Road, New Delhi-110076 and is working as a dealer in HP Gas under the name of plaintiff i.e M/s Gujrat Agencies at Plot no. 33, Shop No. 5, Jangpura Road, Bhogal, New Delhi-110014 (suit property). He is running an Authorized LPG godown at Pant Nagar, Jangpura, for the last 45 Years wherein the said land has been leased by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.). The plaintiff is duly registered under the Central Sales Tax (Registration & Turnover) Rules, 1957. It has been certified that Shop No.5, 33 Jangpura Road, Bhogal, New Delhi is the CS SCJ 233/18 M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.) & Ors. Page no. 2 of 12 principal place of business within the state. The plaintiff has the licence to store compressed gas cylinders, and has been granted the licence no.: - G/NC/DL/06/167(G18589), which is valid for possession of cylinders filled with compressed gas in the licensed premises & is renewed upto 30th September 2021 by Petroleum & Explosive Safety Organization (PESO), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.
3. The newly elected residents' welfare association of Pant Nagar, RWA i.e the defendant no.1 approached the plaintiff through defendant No.2 & 3 to pay a monthly maintenance charge of Rs.10,000/-. The said demand was emphatically refused as it was illegal. Thereafter, the defendant sent a notice dated 20.12.2017, duly signed by defendant No.2 & 3, wherein they demanded the plaintiff to remove its godown, restrict the time limits for commercial vehicles and demanded an illegal amount of Rs. 10,000/- per month. The same was received by plaintiff on 08.01.2018 and same was replied by plaintiff to defendant.
4. Plaintiff had replied to defendant by way of letter dated 15.01.2018 wherein it was clarified that all licenses with regards to the sale & distribution of the Essential Commodities have been obtained by Gujrat Agencies as per the guidelines. Further, the vehicles carrying such essential commodities do not fall under the time CS SCJ 233/18 M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.) & Ors. Page no. 3 of 12 restrictions of 'No Entry'. Moreover, HPCL has already replied to defendants' similar query.
5. After receiving of reply of notice from plaintiff, defendants, through their agents have been trying to restrain the plaintiff from daily business routine activities for fulfilment of illegal demands and the plaintiff is facing obstruction in timely delivery of essential commodities in the specified area.
6. In the background of these facts, the plaintiff has filed the instant suit for permanent injunction against the defendant.
WRITTEN STATEMENT: -
7. In the Written Statement filed by the defendants, the defendants took the following preliminary objections: -
(i) The plaintiff has concealed material facts from the court and has not come with clean hands;
(ii) The managers and operators of the plaintiff are violating the rules and regulations of the Gas Cylinder Rules 2004 and Explosive Rules, 2000 and hence the plaintiff is not entitled to the relief;
(iii) The plaintiff has not obtained any licence and approval form the Fire Department and is not CS SCJ 233/18 M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.) & Ors.
Page no. 4 of 12 following the norms laid down by the Fire Department and the infrastructure of the agency is also not as per the Gas Cylinder Rules;
(iv) Running of a gas godown in a residential area is threat to lives of the residents of Pant Nagar;
(v) The plaintiff has filed the suit to avoid paying maintenance charges to defendants' resident society.
8. The defendants' have asserted that the plaintiff's LPG godown is dangerous to the residents, since it is surrounded by residential area comprising of 420 build houses and there is an MCD owned park filed with jhuggis an bastis on the adjacent site of the plaintiffs godown. The road leading upto the plaintiff is only about 40 meters whereas per law it should be atleast 80 meter. The plaintiff gas agency is a source of noise pollution. It lacks sufficient fire safety infrastructure. It has failed to comply with the norms laid down in the case of Aakash Anugraha Residents v. Joint Chief Controller of Petroleum and Explosives & Ors, dated 20.01.2007.
9. In reply on merits, the defendants have denied the averments of the plaintiff and further averred that the plaintiff has not placed on record any document to show that the plaintiff has permitted licence from the concerned authorities for establishing gas godown in the Pant Nagar CS SCJ 233/18 M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.) & Ors. Page no. 5 of 12 residential area. The defendant is entitled to the amount of Rs. 10,000/- for damages and excessive use of internal road by plaintiff for parking trucks around 4-5 times and three-wheeler temp for loading and unloading cylinders 24/7.
ISSUES:-
10. After completion of pleadings, the following issues were framed by the Ld. Predecessor of this Court vide order dated 31.08.2019-
(i) Whether plaintiff is entitled to a decree for permanent injunction as prayed? OPP
(ii) Relief.
PLAINTIFF'S EVIDENCE:-
11. Sh. Hiren Upadhyay, the proprietor of the plaintiff, deposed as PW-1, vide affidavit of evidence, exhibited as Ex.PW1/1, wherein he reiterated the contents of the plaint.
12. For the sake of brevity and to avoid repetition, the contents are not being reproduced again. The plaintiff relied upon the following documents: -
CS SCJ 233/18M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.) & Ors.
Page no. 6 of 12
S. No. Documents Exhibits
1 Copy of appointment Ex. P-1 (OSR)
letter issued by
Hindustan Petroleum
Corporation Limited is
enclosed
2 Copy of lease deed in Ex. P-2 (OSR)
favour of plaintiff for
storage of gas cylinder
3 Copy of certificate of Ex. P-3(OSR)
registration
4 Copy of renewal of Ex. P-4 (OSR)
Licence No.
G/NC/DL/06/167(G185
89)
5 Copy of notice for Ex. P-5 (OSR)
stoppage of commercial
activity in the colony
6 Copy of reply of letter Ex. P-6 (OSR)
dated 15.01.2018
13. PW-1 was partly cross examined by Ld. Counsel for the defendants and further cross examination was deferred.
However, despite grant of multiple opportunities, no one appeared on behalf of the defendants to conduct further cross examination of PW-1. Therefore, the right of the defendants to further cross examine PW-1 was closed vide order dated 27.05.2022.
14. Thereafter, the plaintiff closed his evidence and the matter was put up for defendant evidence.
CS SCJ 233/18M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.) & Ors. Page no. 7 of 12 DEFENDANT'S EVIDENCE:-
15. Despite grant of opportunity, neither did the defendants file their evidence nor appeared for leading their evidence.
16. Thus, the defendants right to lead defence evidence was closed vide order dated 01.08.2022. The matter was then listed for final arguments.
FINAL ARGUMENTS:-
17. Final arguments were advanced at length by the Ld. Counsel for the plaintiff. I have heard the submissions advanced. I have also perused the entire case record meticulously.
ISSUE-WISE FINDINGS:-
Issue no. 1- Whether plaintiff is entitled to a decree for permanent injunction as prayed? OPP
18. The burden to prove this issue lies on the plaintiff.
The plaintiff has sought the relief of permanent injunction restraining the defendants from stopping the plaintiff's commercial activity in the Pant Nagar, New Delhi. The plaintiff's case is that it has been running an authorised LPG godown at Pant Nagar, Jangpura for the last 45 years. The land was leased by Delhi Development Authority to CS SCJ 233/18 M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.) & Ors. Page no. 8 of 12 HPCL. The plaintiff has the license to store and possess the compressed gas cylinders granted by the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organization (PESO), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
19. To prove its case, the plaintiff has brought on record Ex. P-2, which shows that the DDA had allotted the site no. I at Bhogal, for storage of LPG gas cylinder to the plaintiff, vide its letter dated 18.01.1982. Further, Ex. P-3, shows that the plaintiff was registered with the Central Sales Tax (Registration and Turnover) Rules, 1957, with its principal place of business as Shop no. 5, 33 Jangpura road, Bhogal, New Delhi, for resale of LPG gas, hot plate, gas lighter, etc w.e.f from 01.07.2000. Also, the appointment letter exhibited as Ex. P-1, shows that the plaintiff was appointed by HPCL, as a dealer in HP Gas dealership, after it was reconstituted as a sole proprietorship concern with effect from 14.11.2007. Ex. P- 4 is the renewal license granted by the Petroleum & Explosive Safety Organization (PESO), to the plaintiff, for storage of LPG at Pant Nagar, Delhi, under License no. G/NC/DL/06/167 (G1859) granted in Form F of Gas Cylinder Rules, 2004, valid upto 30.09.2020.
20. Therefore, the documents filed by the plaintiff show that the plaintiff is running its godown from the suit property where LPG cylinders are stored under License no. G/NC/DL/06/167 (G1859).
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21. It is pertinent to note that all the documents filed by the plaintiff are admitted by the defendant no. 2, in the affidavit of admission/denial of documents, filed by him on 06.08.2019.
22. The defendants defence is that the plaintiff has violated the rules and regulations of Gas Cylinder Rules, 2004, Explosive Rules, 2000, the plaintiff has not taken approval from the Fire department, the plaintiff has not followed the norms laid down by fire department and the gas godown is not safe for the residents of Jangpura. However, there is absolutely no evidence brought on record by the defendants' to prove their assertions. No witness was examined or no document was adduced in evidence by the defendants to show that the plaintiff is acting in violation of the rules.
23. Further, even in the cross examination of the PW-1, nothing has been elicited which supports the version of the defendants.
24. Per contra, the plaintiff has been able to show that it is running its godown in accordance with the license granted by PESO, in compliance with the Gas Cylinder Rules. Also, the written statement and the notice exhibited as Ex. P-5 show that the defendants want the plaintiff to close its godown and stop its activities from the Pant Nagar area, meaning thereby that there is a threat extended CS SCJ 233/18 M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.) & Ors. Page no. 10 of 12 by the defendants to the plaintiff's right to carry on its business activities at the suit property.
25. Therefore, the plaintiff is entitled to the relief of permanent injunction against the defendants and the defendants are restrained from stopping the plaintiffs from running its LPG godown and carrying on commercial activities from the property bearing Shop No.5, 33 Jangpura Road, Bhogal, New Delhi except according to due process of law.
26. This issue stands decided in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendant.
RELIEF:-
27. In view of the aforesaid discussion, the facts and circumstances of this case, the findings given on the issue, the documents placed on record and the evidence led, the plaintiff is held entitled to the relief of permanent injunction and the defendants are restrained from stopping the plaintiffs from running its LPG godown and carrying on commercial activities from the property bearing Shop No.5, 33 Jangpura Road, Bhogal, New Delhi, except according to due process of law.
28. Cost of the suit is awarded to the plaintiff.
29. Decree sheet be prepared accordingly.
CS SCJ 233/18M/s Gujrat Agencies Vs. Pant Nagar Resident's Welfare Associate (Regd.) & Ors. Page no. 11 of 12
30. File be consigned to record room after due compliance.
Pronounced in open court (Chitranshi Arora) Today on 10.01.2023 CJ-02, South-East, Saket Court, New Delhi.
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