HC flays Haryana urban planning body for cancelling plot allotments in Gurgaon, imposes cost of Rs 5 lakh

The judgment made it clear that the HSVP could not “on a prima facie flimsy pretext, evade the constitutional assurance meted to the promisees”.

The verdict came on a plea by five petitioners who had moved the court after not getting their allotments despite being successful in e-auctions for the construction of ‘double-storey booths’, costing around Rs 94 lakh each, on the plot in question.

The petitioners were Parveen Sharan, Naveen Kumar, Parmod Gupta, Seema Goyal, and Pooja Gupta. The plea filed by Sharan, 62, was the lead case. Along with the other petitioners, he had received allotment letters since September 2022. As there was no progress in the matter till July 2023, Sharan filed for a refund the following month, which was initially rejected. The litigation began in July 2024 after their representation for allotment was refused.

HSVP’s act of refunding the bid amount “was a clever subterfuge employed by the respondent concerned, to evade the discharging of contractual obligation cast upon it,” the court held, adding that “there was complete lack of diligence, as also prima facie commission of torts of non-feasance, mis-feasance and malfeasance, on the part of the respondent concerned.”

The e-auction in question was conducted on March 17, 2022. HSVP had, however, initially denied possession citing pending development works, only to eventually cancel the allotment in July last year, despite the deposit of money.

After the petitioners’ representations to reconsider and finalise their allotment were rejected, they moved the high court.

The high court, while imposing costs, noted that the petitioners were unnecessarily driven to litigation. Advocate Aadil Singh Boparai appeared for the petitioners.