Delhi court issues attachment order for iconic Bikaner House | Latest News Delhi

A Delhi commercial court has issued an attachment order for the iconic Bikaner House in Delhi after the Municipal Corporation of Nokha failed to comply with a 2020 arbitral award mandating the payment of ₹50.31 lakh to a private enterprise.

Nokha is a municipality in Bikaner district of Rajasthan, and the heritage building is enlisted as one of the assets owned by the municipal body.

The order, issued by district judge Vidya Prakash (Commercial Court) at Patiala House, came in response to the civic body’s non-payment and the failure to file an affidavit of assets despite multiple opportunities provided by the court.

The court noted that the municipal corporation failed to comply with the arbitral tribunal’s decision dated January 21, 2020, and subsequently neglected court directions to disclose its assets.

In its September 18 order, the court stated: “The judgement debtor (Municipal Corporation of Nokha) had failed to comply with the direction for furnishing an affidavit of their assets despite repeated opportunities… it is a fit case for issuance of warrants of attachment against immovable property.”

The attached property, Bikaner House, was identified based on information available in the public domain and from official Rajasthan government sources. Advocates Sahil Garg and Abhinav Jain, representing the private enterprise, submitted before the court that the Municipal Corporation of Nokha was not an autonomous body but an entity of the Rajasthan government, which owns Bikaner House.

With no responses from the state government coming, a prohibitory order was subsequently issued on November 7, restraining the civic body and the Rajasthan government from transferring or selling the property. The court directed the municipal authority to appear on November 29 for further proceedings.

This action followed the municipal body’s failure to comply with an arbitral agreement to pay ₹50.31 lakh to Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd, a private enterprise involved in a legal dispute over a sewage treatment plant project in Nokha, Rajasthan.

Enviro Infra Engineering approached the Delhi International Arbitration Centre in 2019 after alleging non-payment for work completed on a sewage treatment project for Nokha town in Rajasthan. While the arbitral tribunal ruled in favour of the enterprise, the decreed amount remained unpaid, prompting the company to seek judicial enforcement of the award.

In response to the court’s attachment order, the Rajasthan government on Thursday announced plans to challenge the decision in the Delhi high court. Additional advocate general Shiv Mangal Sharma acknowledged that Bikaner House belongs to Rajasthan’s Nokha civic body, adding: “The attachment order of Bikaner House has raised serious concerns given its heritage value and cultural significance. It appears that there has been laxity on the part of the previous officer-in-charge (OIC) or the person or advocate conducting the matter. As a result, crucial steps required to protect the state’s assets were not taken in a timely manner.”

Emphasising that steps are being taken to secure an urgent stay against the attachment order, Sharma said that the government is taking note of the negligence and will likely investigate to ensure accountability. The law officer further said that legal experts have been engaged to safeguard the property and ensure compliance with court directives while protecting the state’s assets.

Bikaner House, situated off India Gate in the national capital, is a historic property built during the rule of Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner. Once the princely state’s headquarters in Delhi, it represents Rajasthan’s architectural and cultural heritage. It is now a popular art and exhibition space.

The dispute originated in 2011 when Nokha Municipal Corporation floated a tender for designing and constructing a sewage treatment plant. While Enviro Infra Engineering completed the project by 2016, it alleged that the final payment was withheld, forcing it to seek arbitration. DIAT ruled in its favour in 2020, awarding ₹50.31 lakh.