Overview
- Allowing NDMC’s appeals, a Division Bench set aside the December 2023 Single Judge order and revived the February 13, 2020 demand for more than ₹1,063 crore along with the licence termination.
- The court found Bharat Hotels in fundamental breach of the 1982 deed for sub-licensing, which it said justified ending the 99-year licence for the Barakhamba Lane site.
- The 1982 agreement set the fee at ₹1.45 crore a year with a revision after 33 years, and NDMC’s later valuation led to the arrears notice seeking payment in three instalments.
- Judges cited Supreme Court guidance that public bodies must seek maximum reasonable return on immovable property and warned that undercharging on prime New Delhi land burdens residents who fund NDMC through taxes.
- The order noted a sharp mismatch between the deed’s fee cap of ₹2.90 crore a year and the Land and Development Office’s separate ground-rent figures, including an annual figure near ₹98 crore and a demand exceeding ₹162 crore.