Indira Uppal v. J.N. Uppal

1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?

2. To be referred to the reporter or not?

3. Whether judgment should be reported in Digest?

1. Parties in this case are Ms. Indira Uppal, Mr. J.N. Uppal, Dr. Harish Uppal, Mr. J.K. Uppal and Mr. P.N. Uppal (all brothers and sisters). They have equal shares in two properties viz. 20 Todarmal Road, New Delhi and 9-A/50, WEA, Karol Bagh, New Delhi and an award for partition of these two properties among the above shareholders has become final and each of the party has been held entitled to 20% share in the properties. The properties were ordered to be auctioned by way of public auction and they were put 2009:DHC:4691 to public auction. No public person participated in the auction of the above two properties and only Ms. Indira Uppal, one of the parties gave bid for property bearing number 9A/50, WEA, Karol Bagh, New Delhi for a sum of Rs.[2] crore. Thereafter, parties were asked to give inter se bidding in respect of different floors of the property 20, Todarmal Road, New Delhi. Only Dr. Harish Uppal gave a bid for basement of Rs.[1] crore. None of the other parties gave bid for basement. For ground floor, the highest bid was of Dr. Harish Uppal of Rs.2.[5] crore. No other party gave bid for ground floor higher than this. For first floor, the highest bid was of Dr. Harish Uppal of Rs.2.[5] crore. Mr. J.N. Uppal who is in occupation of first floor gave a bid of Rs.[2] crore. For second floor, the highest bid was of Rs.2.01 crore given by Mr. G.K. Uppal. Mr. P.N. Uppal who is in occupation of second floor gave bid of only Rs.1.[8] crore. In view of inter se bidding, the total value of the property comes to Rs.10.01 crore i.e. Rs.8.01 crore for the property at 20, Todarmal Road and Rs.[2] crore for Karol Bagh property.

2. The highest bid for second floor is of Rs.2.01 crore. The party presently in occupation of second floor is Mr. P.N. Uppal who has 1/5th share in the property which comes to Rs.2,00,20,000/-. If he wants to retain the second floor he will have to deposit Rs.80,000/- in the Court within a week. In case he does not want to retain the second floor, he will vacate the same in four weeks and the second floor shall be handed over to Mr. G.K. Uppal, the highest bidder for this floor and he shall deposit Rs.80,000/- (after adjustment of his share) in the Court within one week of refusal by Mr. P.N. Uppal.

3. The first floor is in occupation of Mr. J.N. Uppal who gave bid of Rs.[2] crore for first floor whereas the highest bid for this is Rs.2.[5] crore given by Dr. Harish Uppal. If Mr. J.N. Uppal wants to retain the first floor he shall deposit Rs.49,80,000/- in the Court within two weeks. If he is not interested in depositing this amount, he will vacate the first floor within four weeks.

4. Dr. Harish Uppal and Ms. Indira Uppal are in occupation of ground floor and basement. Dr. Harish Uppal has expressed his desire to retain the ground floor. Ms. Indira Uppal has given bid for Karol Bagh property for Rs.[2] crore. Dr. Harish Uppal in case wants to retain the basement, he shall deposit Rs.1,49,80,000/- in the Court within two weeks. Ms. Indira Uppal is presently living with Dr. Harish Uppal and sharing ground floor with him. In case Ms. Indira Uppal and Dr. Harish Uppal together retain the basement and ground floor, both together would be entitled to additional amount of Rs.50,40,000/- out of the amount deposited by Mr. J.N. Uppal and Mr. P.N. Uppal. However, in case Dr. Harish Uppal and Ms. Indira Uppal together do not want to retain ground floor and basement, Dr. Harish Uppal alone shall retain the basement and ground floor and deposit Rs.1,49,80,000/-. In case of his failure to deposit Rs. one crore against basement, he shall vacate the basement so that the basement can be auctioned through Court auction as an independent unit and the parties in occupation of Todermal Road house will have to provide an independent way for the basement so that public auction of basement is successful. In such an eventuality, after public auction of the basement, the amount realized if falls short of Rs.[1] crore to that extent it will go out of the share of all parties. If the amount of auction goes beyond Rs.[1] crore, the extra amount will be divided amongst parties.

5. Mr. G.K. Uppal who is in occupation of Karol Bagh property shall be paid an amount of Rs.2,00,00,000/- either after auction of basement or after the amount is deposited by Mr. Harish Uppal, as the case maybe and after he gets his share of the amount, he shall vacate the Karol Bagh Property and handover possession to Ms. Indira Uppal if she had not opted for common share with Dr. Harish Uppal in form of ground floor and basement and for balance share amount.

6. The parties shall express their option within one week from today. However, if Mr. P.N. Uppal and Mr. J.N. Uppal are not prepared to retain the respective floors at the value which has come in inter se bidding, they shall vacate the premises within four weeks from today so that the floors can be handed over to the highest bidder inter se parties.

7. This shall take care of the portion of award concerning division of immovable properties among the different co-sharers. Remaining payments under award shall be unaffected. List this matter now on 17th November, 2009. November 09, 2009 SHIV NARAYAN DHINGRA J. rd