HC refuses to stay demolition of national shooting coach Samaresh Jung’s house in Delhi
New Delhi, Aug 5: The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to stay the demolition of the house of national pistol shooting coach Samaresh Jung in the Civil Lines here, saying in the absence of any legal right over the property which was sub-leased to Jung’s family, no relief can be granted.
Justice Sanjeev Narula dismissed the petition filed by Sameer Jung, the brother of the coach, challenging a March 1, 2024 notice which declared all occupants (approximately 1,000) spread over 32 acres in the Khyber Pass market area as unauthorised and initiated a blanket demolition drive.
Samaresh Jung, who coached Olympic medal winner Manu Bhaker, also resides in the same property in which the family was legally inducted as sub-tenant about 60-70 years back, the lawyer told the court, adding that they were not given any opportunity of hearing by the authorities.
As the petitioner’s counsel told the court that Jung, who brought laurels to the country at several sporting events, risked being forced out of the house, the judge said, “It sounds very hard but the fact is there. Already some action has bee taken and some houses have been demolished. Making an exception will be difficult."
The counsel for the Land and Development Office (L&DO) submitted that the coach must have done some great service to the country but ultimately it is public land and no exception can be made.
The counsel said the petitioner has shown no entitlement and no exception can be made as other houses have already been removed.
The petition, filed through advocates Rohit Yadav, Sahil Siddiqui and Gultash Guron, sought quashing of the March 1 notice and urged the court to direct the authorities not to evict the petitioner and his family from the property in Bhutta Singh Building in Khyber Pass.
It said the petitioner’s grandparents were the original sub-tenants of the property in the early 1940s and his grandfather, Colonel Sher Jung was a freedom fighter and a war hero.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the notice is liable to be struck down as it violates the principles of natural justice as no show cause notice was issued to the family, denying them an opportunity to put forth their case.
He said the notice was bad in law, vague, unsubstantiated and arbitrary, and the authorities failed to follow due procedure of law to evict legal tenants and occupants.
The court said it has considered the submissions but remains unconvinced.
It said the March 1 notice issued to the occupants was the subject matter of another petition which was heard and dismissed by a single judge. Thereafter, a division bench rejected the appeal.
Justice Narula said the decision of the division bench was squarely applicable in the present matter and the petitioner independently does not have any right over the property itself.
“Their right is asserted as the sub-lessee or a sub tenant of the lessee. The fact that the petitioner at some point of time did make payments to the L&DO which were accepted would not create any legal relationship between the parties and put the petitioner to the pedestal of a lessee.
“There is no written agreement between the petitioner and the respondents.
There are no documents on record to indicate that the petitioner after 1978 made any payments to the respondents,” the court said.
It added that although the petitioner’s counsel has argued that the petitioner was paying property tax, this would not give them any right over the property.
While carrying out the demolition drive, L&DO has already bulldozed several houses in the area.
On July 9, a single judge of the high court had dismissed a separate petition by residents of Khyber Pass Hostel challenging the demolition notice issued on March 3. A division bench, on July 29, upheld the order and dismissed the appeal.
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Duleep Trophy: Pacers shine as India B beat India A by 76 runs
Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.
Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.
In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.
The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.
That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.
Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.
Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.
But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.
Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.
Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.
They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.
However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.
The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.
But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.
It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.
But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.
Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).
The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
