New Delhi: An unregistered lease deed has led Delhi High Court to direct GMR Group, which also owns the city’s airport operator DIAL, to vacate a 2.45-acre property in Pushpanjali Farms being used as the residence for its CMD.Now owned by Onkar Infotech, GMR Group had taken the property on a monthly rent of Rs 45 lakh for its chairman and managing director. It opposed the eviction notice, arguing that the property is covered under Delhi Land Reforms Act that bars any such action. It also claimed that the lease was unregistered as talks were on between the previous landlord and the company to buy the property.However, Justice Subramonium Prasad, in a recent verdict, highlighted that such a lease was not valid in law as it cannot be enforced, noting that the land was being used only for the residential purpose of the CMD.“In the opinion of this court, there are no disputed questions of facts in the present case. The land in question, which is being used only for the residential purpose of CMD, will not come under the definition of DLR Act 1954 as it is not being used for agricultural or horticultural purposes,” the court noted. “The lease being unregistered cannot be evidence for ascertaining the time period of the lease. The defendants (GMR) were month-to-month tenants and the lease deed stood terminated,” it added, directing the company to vacate the property and hand over its possession to the owners.According to Onkar Infotech, it bought the property from the erstwhile owner and informed GMR about the sale, turning them effectively into a month-to-month tenant. In response, the tenant company argued that a substantial amount of money was spent by it in developing the land by constructing a swimming pool and other amenities. It also argued that the area in question stood protected under DLR Act as it was agricultural land.But the court stressed that once used completely for non-agricultural or non-horticultural purposes , the provisions of the Act were not applicable and the land would automatically come outside its ambit. It also noted that Delhi Development Authority issued a notification in 2013 clarifying that certain villages, including Bijwasan, had been declared as lower density residential areas, which would take this land outside the ambit of the land reform law.“Since the lease deed is unregistered, defendant no. 1 would be only a month-to-month tenant and would be liable to be evicted by termination of the lease deed by giving a notice of 15 days prior to the eviction, which has been done in this case,” the court pointed out.While GMR Group hired the property in 2020 from the earlier owner, the farmhouse in 2024 was bought by Onkar Infotech for Rs 115 crore through a registered sale deed, acquiring all rights, titles and interests in the property. It asked GMR and its CMD to vacate the property.
