Delhi HC issues notice to Centre on pleas filed by Gymkhana Club

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on applications filed by Delhi Gymkhana Club member Vijay Khurana and the club’s Staff Welfare Association against a show-cause notice issued by the Estate Officer in eviction proceedings concerning the club’s 27.3-acre premises in Lutyens’ Delhi.

According to a report in Bar and Bench, the applications have been filed in already pending suits that challenge the Centre’s earlier order directing the club to vacate the premises. A bench of Justice Avneesh Jhingan listed the matter for hearing on July 28 after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre with advocate Ashish Dixit, sought time to file a response.

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The show-cause notice, issued on June 29 under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, directed the club’s representative to appear on or before July 7 and explain why the eviction proceedings should not continue in line with the earlier eviction order, said a report in Hindustan Times. It stated that after the termination of the club’s lease on May 22 and the government’s exercise of its right of re-entry under the lease deed, the club’s continued occupation amounts to “unauthorised occupation” under the Act.

The notice also said the land is required for defence infrastructure, public security, governance infrastructure and other projects serving the public interest. On May 22, the Centre had directed the club to hand over its premises at 2, Safdarjung Road, to the Land and Development Office by June 5, invoking a public-purpose clause in the original lease deed. That order said the property is in a “highly sensitive and strategic area” and is needed to strengthen defence infrastructure and meet public security requirements.

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In their application, Khurana and the Staff Welfare Association argued that the June 29 show-cause notice rests on “entirely erroneous and premature assumptions” because it was issued while their suit challenging the Centre’s May 22 notice remains pending before the High Court, where the validity of the lease termination has yet to be decided, it said.

When the matter was heard in May, the High Court had declined to pass any interim order against the directive to vacate. That came after Mehta told the bench that the government would not take “immediate possession” of the property and that any eviction-related action would be taken only in accordance with law and after prior notice.

The land on which the club functions was given to it on a perpetual lease in 1928. Clause 4 of the lease deed provides that the lessor, the Central government, may re-enter the premises if it is required for a public purpose. Situated next to the Prime Minister’s residence on Lok Kalyan Marg, the club was established in 1913 as the Imperial Delhi Gymkhana Club and was renamed after Independence.