Supreme Court - Daily Orders
The Liquidator, Super Bazar ... vs Delhi Development Authority on 24 February, 2025
1
ITEM NO.45 COURT NO.13 SECTION XIV
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Miscellaneous Application Nos.1741-1742/2020 in SLP(C) Nos. 8398-
8399/2005
THE LIQUIDATOR, SUPER BAZAR COOPERATIVE STORES LTD. Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Respondent(s)
Date : 24-02-2025 These petitions were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.B. PARDIWALA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R. MAHADEVAN
For Petitioner(s) :
Mr. Harin P Raval, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Sanjiv Kr Saxena, Adv.
Mr. Partha Sil, AOR
Mr. Ruchir Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Ranmeek Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Srijit Datta, Adv.
Mr. Siddharth H Raval, Adv.
Ms. Reba Jena Mishra, Adv.
Ms. Urmi H Raval, Adv.
Ms. Shreya Bansal, Adv.
Ms. Shrestha Narayan, Adv.
For Respondent(s) :
Mr. Kailash Vasdev, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Nitin Mishra, AOR
Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Mitali Gupta, Adv.
M/S. Saharya & Co., AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
1. The order passed by this Court dated 20.01.2025 reads thus:-
MA Nos 1741-1742 of 2020 in SLP(C) Nos 8398-8399 of 2005:-Signature Not Verified VISHAL ANAND Date: 2025.03.01
“1 We have heard Mr Harin P Raval, senior counsel on behalf Digitally signed by 16:46:52 IST Reason:
of the Official Liquidator of the erstwhile Super Bazar (in liquidation) and Mr Kailash Vasdev, senior counsel appearing 2 on behalf of the Delhi Development Authority with Mr Vishnu B Saharya.
2 The Court has been apprised of the fact that a joint meeting took place between the Official Liquidator and the Vice Chairman of Delhi Development Authority and an effort has been made to reconcile the records which have been furnished by the Official Liquidator with the payments which have been made.
3 On the joint request of the counsel for the parties, list the Miscellaneous Applications on 5 December 2022.” “We have heard Mr. Harin P. Raval, the learned senior counsel appearing for the official liquidator and Mr. Nitin Mishra, the learned counsel appearing for the DDA.
2. What we have been able to understand from Mr. Raval is that the matter as on date is pending at the stage of execution of conveyance deed by the DDA. The DDA is ready and willing to execute the conveyance deed, however, it is demanding an amount of Rs.2.61 crore under different heads for the purpose of executing the conveyance deed. According to Mr. Rawal, there is no basis for the DDA to raise such a demand.
3. It is in the aforesaid background that the two orders referred to above assumes significance.
4. Even after two years the matter is at the very same stage as it was when the orders referred to above, came to be passed. We would like to know the status as on date. We would also like to know what DDA intends to do in the matter. It is only after DDA executes the conveyance deed that the official liquidator will be in a position to issue auction notice and put the properties to auction.
5. We are informed that the amount of almost Rs.300 crore is to be paid to various creditors, whereas what has been collected so far by the official liquidator is about Rs.14.61 crore.
36. In such circumstances, referred to above, we give one last opportunity to the DDA to resolve the controversy and place before us some proposal by which we can dispose of this matter.
7. All that we can say is that it is difficult for the official liquidator to pay the amount as demanded by the DDA. It will be detrimental to the interest of the creditors to whom huge amount is to be paid.
8. It has been brought to our notice that a meeting was convened on 20.02.2024. However, we have no idea about the out come of the said meeting.
9. Permission is granted to place additional documents on record, as prayed for by the learned counsel appearing for the DDA.”
2. In pursuance of our aforesaid order, the Liquidator has filed an affidavit stating as under:-
“I, Pramod Kumar Sahoo S/o Mr. Bhubanananda Sahoo aged about 50 years, working as Official Liquidator with Super Bazar, the Cooperative Stores Limited, 12-A, Jamnagar House, New Delhi-110001, presently at New Delhi do hereby solemnly affirm and state as under:-
1. That I am working as Official Liquidator with Super Bazar, the Cooperative Stores Limited. As such, I am well conversant with the facts and circumstances of the case, hence, am competent to swear this Affidavit on behalf of Petitioner.
2. That I have read and understood the contents of this Affidavit and the same has been drafted on my instructions and statements made therein are true and correct to the best of my knowledge on record and belief.
3. That the present matter was last listed on 20.01.2025 before this Hon'ble Court. Submissions were made on behalf of the Petitioner and the Delhi Development Authority.
4. That, during the course of hearing, this Hon'ble Court 4 was apprised of the fact that a joint meeting took place between the Official Liquidator, Super Bazar and the Vice Chairman of Delhi Development Authority in order to reconcile the records furnished by the Official Liquidator with the payments which have been made.
5. That, however, the issue was still pending and at the stage of execution of conveyance deed by the Delhi Development Authority which is willing to execute the same subject to demand of payment of Rs. 2.61 crores payable under different heads.
6. That, while objecting to the said demand, this Hon'ble Court was further apprised of a meeting convened in the year 2024 under the Chairmanship of Secretary (CA) with officials from the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Delhi Development Authority, the Official Liquidator, Super Bazar, and the legal representatives of the Petitioner to discuss the pending issue.
7. That, in order to bring the facts before this Hon'ble Court, the Petitioner was granted permission to place additional documents qua the said meeting held on 20.02.2024 under the Chairmanship of Secretary (CA).
8. That, accordingly, the Petitioner is placing the Minutes of Meeting dated 20.02.2024 held at Jagriti Conference Hall of the Department of Consumer Affairs wherein it has been recorded that it was informed that Super Bazar that it had made timely payment and that efforts had been made to follow up with the Delhi Development Authority, however, no conveyance deed had been executed, instead an additional demand of Rs. 2,61 crores had been raised.
9. Copy of the Minutes of Meeting dated 20.02.2024 is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-A.”
3. Along with the affidavit, the Liquidator has also attached the Minutes of the Meeting held on 20-2-2024 to discuss the issue as regards the Super Bazar with Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
54. The minutes of the meeting recorded are as under:-
1. A meeting under the Chairmanship of Secretary (CA) was held on 20 February, 2024 at 5.00 PM in the Jagriti Conference Hall of the Department of Consumer Affairs. 2 The list of participants in the meeting is at Annexure.
3. A brief Presentation outlining the issues involved in non-Execution of Conveyance Deeds by DDA in favour of Super Bazar in respect of Shops at four different locations, was made to the participants of the meeting by Shri. Kalyan Nag. Official Liquidator, Super Bazar.
4. Learned Senior Advocate, Shri Harin. P Rawal gave a brief overview of the pending major litigations in the Courts and apprised Secretary (CA) about their latest status, 5 Shri Kalyan Nag, OL, Super Bazar, informed that in compliance of the categorical instructions of DDA for the purpose of execution of conveyance deeds as demanded by DDA, sum of Rs.36.68 Lakhs was paid through IDLI portal of DDA, as conversion charges as follows:
Sl. Particulars Amount paid as Date of payment No. per Demand of DDA in IDLI portal(Rs.)
1. Shop Nos 2 &3, B-4, 4,96,542/- 13.06.2019 Paschim Vihar
2. Shop Nos 26,27 & 6,41,852/- 30.07.2019 28, Guru Nanak House Building Society
3. Shop Nos 15,20,943/- 11.05.2022 20,21,36,37 & 38, Gulmohar park
4. Shop Nos 51 to 56, 10,68,673 11.05.2022 B Block Janakpuri TOTAL 36.68 lakh 6
5. It was informed by OL, Super Bazar, in spite of timely payment compliance and numerous follow up with DDA, no conveyance deed has been executed by DDA till date.
Instead DDA has raised a huge additional demand as follows:
Sl. Particulars Additional Demand portal(Rs.) No.
1. Shop Nos 2 &3, B-4, 70,97,550/-
Paschim Vihar
2. Shop Nos 26,27 & 28, 67,20,399/-
Guru Nanak House Building Society
3. Shop Nos 20,21,36,37 22,32,126/-
& 38, Gulmohar park
4. Shop Nos 51 to 56, B 1,00,80,043/-
Block Janakpuri
TOTAL 2.61 Cr.
6. It was further stated by OL, Super Bazar that since the matter pertains to the period as old as 1975-76 onwards, this is a case of missing records at both the end of DDA as well as Super Bazar and that the payment challans are not available with Super bazar. However, from the various correspondences between Super Bazar and DDA, this is evidently clear that initial cost of Shops and other charges were fully paid by Super bazar.
7. As regards amalgamation charges included in the additional demand raised by DDA in respect of the shops at Paschim Vihar and Guru Nanak colony, Learned Sr. Advocate Shri Harin P Raval opined that Hon'ble Supreme Court in its order dated 13.05.2022 has condoned these charges, hence 7 DDA may revise their demand to this extent.
8. Secretary (CA) stated that the disputes between Government entities should be settled through negotiations and matters should not get entangled in legal complications. Accordingly, he urged both DDA and OL Super Bazar may resolve the matter amicably.
9. It was decided that OL, Superbazaar may visit to DDA, sit together with Commissioner (Land Management), DDA and reconcile the facts and figures based on the available records. The Additional Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs was requested to facilitate a settlement between the Super Bazar and the DDA at the earliest possible as the matter is pending since a long time. The meeting concluded with Thanks to the Chair.”
5. Today, in the course of further hearing of this matter, we put forward a proposal before the DDA with a request to consider the same as this litigation is only depriving the creditors of their legitimate dues. The Liquidator wants to put several shops forming part of A, B, C & D Schedule so that some amount can be recovered from the auction and paid to the creditors.
6. We are not in a position to proceed further because the DDA wants the Liquidator to deposit Rs.2.61 Crore. The DDA has made it a condition precedent. Unless and until this amount of Rs.2.61 Crore is not deposited, the DDA is not willing to execute the lease deed/conveyance deed.
7. It is the case of the liquidator that at the relevant point of time, the amount which was to be paid to the DDA was Rs.36,00,000/- and the same was deposited.
8. The whole idea in closely looking into the minutes, referred to above, is because of the contents of Para 6 therein. In para 6, it has been stated that the various correspondences between the Super Bazar and DDA makes it clear that the initial cost of shops and other charges were fully paid by the Super Bazar.
9. The meeting was chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of 8 Corporate Affairs.
10. If what has been stated in Para 6, referred to above, is true then what is the idea at the end of the DDA in demanding Rs.2.61 Crore.
11. We believe that the dispute can still be resolved in the larger interest of the creditors.
12. Today, we have put forward one another proposal that let the DDA execute the lease deed/conveyance deed in favour of the liquidator so that the liquidator can put the shops to auction and once he is able to recover some amount then out of the same, some reasonable amount may be paid to the DDA.
13. We request the Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs to convene one more meeting with the DDA and try to make DDA understand our order, more particularly what we are trying to convey.
14. DDA be directed accordingly by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
15. Post the matter after two week.
(VISHAL ANAND) (POOJA SHARMA) ASTT. REGISTRAR-cum-PS COURT MASTER (NSH)