A Delhi court has directed the attachment of the Bikaner House after the Nokha municipal council in Rajasthan which owns the historic building failed to pay arbitral award of Rs 50.31 lakh to Enviro Infra Engineers Private Limited.
The Patiala House court in Delhi has passed the order on an application seeking enforcement of the arbitral award passed by arbitral tribunal in January 2020. After the attachment order, the Nagar Palika of Nokha cannot transfer or charging the property by sale, gift or otherwise.
Bikaner House was categorised as a Grade II heritage building by the Archeological Survey of India and is now a world-class cultural centre run by the Government of Rajasthan. It was opened to public in 2015.
The District Judge Vidya Prakash at the Patiyala House court passed the order of attachment after noting 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.
The courts in its order noted that Bikaner House situated within the territorial jurisdiction of Delhi Court is owned by the Nokha Nagar Palika, after the counsels submitted the information available on the official website of State of Rajasthan. The court passed the said order after noting the non-compliance of the its directions on past occassions by Nokha Nagar Palika.
“Keeping in view the aforesaid facts and circumstances and the fact that the JD had failed to comply with the direction for furnishing affidavit of their assets despite grant of repeated opportunities, Court while agreeing with the submissions made on behalf of DH, finds it a fit case for issuance of warrants of attachment against immovable property of JD i.e. Bikaner House, New Delhi. Accordingly, issue warrants of attachment of immovable property of JD i.e. Bikaner House, New Delhi…” the court order read.
The court has further directed the representative of the Nokha Nagar Palika to appear before the court on November 29.
Bikaner House was built during the rule of Maharaja Ganga Singh, Maharaja of princely state of Bikaner (1887 to 1943 AD). As Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes, he played a significant role in sustaining relationships between the Princely Houses and the Crown. Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker were initially given the task of designing the residence. Later, this was passed on to Charles G. Blomfield.
