The Supreme Court has refused to modify its order by which it directed that the ancestral house of renowned author Salman Rushdie and his family, situated in a posh locality in Delhi, be sold at present market price to another family.
The Supreme Court has refused to modify its order by which it directed that the ancestral house of renowned author Salman Rushdie and his family, situated in a posh locality in Delhi, be sold at present market price to another family.
The apex court on December 3, 2012 had directed Rushdies to hand over the house which their father had agreed to sell to a Jain family in 1970 but directed the buyer to pay the current market price of the property.
The Jain family approached the apex court seeking modification in that order and pleaded that the property be handed over to them by paying an amount of Rs 6 crore against Rs 3.75 lakh which was agreed upon in 1970 and not on the basis of market price.
A bench of Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi, however, refused to modify the order saying if the parties disagree over the market price, to be calculated by a trial court, they can seek proper legal remedy.
"The aforesaid prayer for modification is based on the additional ground that the same is contrary to several decisions of this court.
"We do not consider the above stated ground to be a justifiable or sufficient cause to alter our direction(s) for execution of the sale deed at the market price in as much as the said direction was passed by us in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case," the bench said.
Rushdie's father Anis Ahmed Rushdie had entered into an agreement with the then Congress leader Bhiku Ram Jain to sell his house situated in posh Civil Lines in North Delhi for Rs3.75 lakh.
Jain had paid Rs 50,000 to Rushdie and given an assurance to pay the rest of the amount after the owner got tax clearance certificates from income tax authorities.
The two families then got into a dispute after they accused each other of not respecting the terms of the agreement.
Jains then filed a suit in 1977 requesting the trial court to direct Rushdie for the execution of the December 1970 agreement.
On October 5, 1983, the court ruled in their favour, saying Jains could get the property after paying the rest of the Rs 3.25 lakh to the Rushdies.
The Rushdies then appealed in the Delhi High Court which on October 31 last ruled that Jains could not ask for transfer of the bungalow to them.
It asked the Rushdies to return Rs50,000 with 12 per cent annual interest.
Jains then approached the apex court which after hearing all sides came to the conclusion that the high court erred in giving order in favour of Rushdies and quashed the order.
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