SMT. SARLA TANEJA vs DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

Judgment text excerpt

$~J-1 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Judgment Reserved on: 06.08.2025 Judgment Delivered on: 22.11.2025 + W.P.(C) 8242/2021 & CM APPL. 25609/2021 SMT. SARLA TANEJA .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Nakul Mohta, Mr. Aditya Dhingra and Mr. Ayush Kashyap, Advs. versus DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY .....Respondent Through: Mr. Tushar Sannu, Mr. Praveen Bansal and Ms. Ishika Jain, Advs. for DDA. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIKAS MAHAJAN JUDGMENT VIKAS MAHAJAN, J 1. The grievance ventilated in the present petition is with regard to the cancellation of bid/allotment of the petitioner and forfeiture of earnest money deposited by her. 2. The brief facts giving rise to the present petition are that respondent/DDA invited tenders for industrial plots in the year 2018-19. 3. The petitioner registered herself on the DDA‟s e-auction portal as per the stipulated guidelines, and paid 5% of minimum reserved price amounting to Rs. 2,89,709/- of the earnest money prior to the auction and submitted the requisite documents i.e. letter of intent, affidavit, etc. W.P.(C) 8242/2021 Page 1 of 17 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:DEEPAK SINGH Signing Date:22.11.2025 21:22:42 4. On 26.04.2019, the petitioner was declared the highest bidder (H1 bidder) with highest bid of Rs.1,89,94,174/- for the plot no. A-36 Keshopur Industrial Area, New Delhi (hereinafter „the property‟). 5. Before the issuance of demand-cum-allotment letter to the petitioner, a civil writ petition being W.P.(C) No. 4904/2019 was filed by one Mr. Manjeet Singh, the second highest bidder of the property claiming to be highest bidder in the said E-auction. In the said petition, this Court passed a stay order dated 08.05.2019 with a direction to respondent/DDA that final demand-cum-allotment letter with respect to th