HC seeks Centre’s reply on plea for damages to property forfeited during Emergency

New Delhi, Jan 11 : The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and the Directorate of Estates on an application seeking damages related to a property in Lutyens zone, which was wrongfully forfeited in proceedings arising out of the National Emergency imposed by the Government of India in 1975.

The children of a 94-year-old woman Veera Sarin had knocked the doors of the Delhi High Court seeking damages.

Sarin had recently approached the Supreme Court seeking the declaration of the National Emergency imposed by the government in 1975 as unconstitutional.The suit filed before the high court by plaintiffs Rajiv Sarin, Deepak Sarin and Radhika Sarin have sought damages worth Rs 2.20 crore, Rs 9.89 lakh, Rs 43.5 lakh for the loss of market rent, outstanding maintenance charges and outstanding property tax respectively in relation to illegal use and occupation of a property.The said property is situated in Ansal Bhawan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg.

The plaintiffs claimed they are the owners of the property which was forfeited by the authorities under (SAFEMA) in 1998 and it was leased out to the Directorate of Estates (DoE) prior to forfeiture.It said the forfeiture was set aside and quashed by the Delhi High Court in December 2014 but even after several attempts by the plaintiffs, the authorities were not releasing the property.