New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) A Delhi court has ordered the eviction of a tenant from a retired government official’s flat, observing that the occupant tried to delay the trial by transferring online Rs.50 lakh to the house owner’s bank account.
Tenant Ketan Patel claimed that he transferred the money as part of a deal to buy the flat in White House on Bhagwan Dass Road in central Delhi from its owner Ashok Kumar Aggarwal.
The court said Patel failed to give documents to support his statement and his actions reeked of an attempt to create legal tangles.
“It is highly unbelievable that such a huge amount would have been given without seeking any receipt even on a plain piece of paper. Any other sort of oral testimony cannot be given credence to,” said Additional District Judge Ina Malhotra in a recent order.
“It would indeed be a travesty of justice if every tenant could get his way for a lengthy trial merely by transferring a fair enough amount online to the owner’s account and hold him to ransom for specific performance (of contract) for sale of his property,” the court said.
The court ruled that a tenant was liable to be evicted if the tenancy had been validly terminated and allowed Aggarwal’s plea to secure possession of his flat.
According to Aggarwal, he had given the flat on a monthly rent of Rs.45,000 to Patel. A lease agreement was executed July 20, 2009, and renewed for another year in 2010.
He told the court that the flat’s lease expired May 31, 2011, and he asked Patel to vacate the property but he did not pay any heed.
Aggarwal sent a legal notice to Patel Nov 11, 2011, and asked him to vacate the house by the last day of that month.
He told the court that Patel stopped paying rent from June 2011, and in December 2011 he transferred Rs.50 lakh to his bank account without any information.
The court noted that Patel told the court that he struck a deal with Aggarwal to purchase the flat for Rs.1.75 crore.
Patel claimed that he paid Rs.50 lakh in cash and transferred another Rs.50 lakh to the plaintiff’s account. Aggarwal denied the agreement.
“Judicial notice is also being taken of the fact that the property sought to be purchased by the defendant is situated in a prestigious building and at a prime location for which the defendant alleges the sale consideration is Rs.1.75 crore only. Even a DDA flat, in far remoter colonies of Delhi, would fetch a much higher consideration,” the court said.