SC orders pvt firm to pay original allotment price
CHANDIGARH : Setting aside a 2019 Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) order reducing the allotment price of two IT industrial plots in Rai Industrial Estate, the Supreme Court (SC) has ordered that the allottee company was liable to pay the original allotment price of ₹22,885 per square metre.
The apex court also came down heavily on the then managing director (MD) of Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) for allowing conversion of the plots to non-IT industrial plots with a reduced allotment price.
“The then MD while passing the order dated March 21, 2018, exceeded his authority. His order was nothing except a brazen attempt to extend undue favour to the respondent. The allotment price of the plots, which were reserved for the information technology (IT) industry, was admittedly ₹22,885 per square metre, whereas the non-IT industrial plots were to be allotted at a lower rate of ₹19,900 per square metre,’’ an SC bench of justice Surya Kant and justice Ujjal Bhuyan said in its August 14 order.
The bench said the IT industrial plots were advertised at a higher rate of ₹22,885 per square metre. It said the respondent company, Wyan Industries Ltd, applied for these plots and got allotment at the said rate, and even deposited the earnest amount to secure the allotment.
“If, at all, the corporation was to take a policy decision to reduce the rate of allotment, such policy decision could not be taken and applied on a pickand-choose basis. Assuming that the plots reserved for the IT industry were found to be inviable, even in that case, a uniform policy decision was required to be taken as there could be other bidders who might have offered higher prices for the allotted plots,’’ the SC said.
The apex court said the HC has also, unfortunately, failed to take notice of the fact that under the HSIIDCs pricing policy, there was no provision for reduction of the price of a plot, which has already been allotted.
“We have no reason to doubt that the decision of the then MD was detrimental to the interest of the appellant-corporation, and the HC also fell in error while overlooking this aspect of the matter, which permitted the respondent to retain the IT industrial plots meant to develop IT software industry at a lower rate prescribed for non-IT industrial plot,’’ the top court said.
As per the SC order, the two plots— TP-3 and TP-3A— in Sector 38, Phase I of Technology Park, Industrial Estate, Rai, allotted to Wyan Industries in 2018 were developed as IT industrial plots. The size of these plots, as compared to the non-IT industrial plots of the Food Park, was bigger, and the rate of allotment was higher at ₹22,885 per square metre as compared to the rate of ₹19,900 per square metre fixed for the non-IT industrial plots. The company was allotted plots on February 27, 2018, and the very next day it made a representation for the conversion of both plots from IT/software purposes to non-IT industrial purposes. It also sought a consequential reduction of the offer price of the plots from ₹22,885 per square metre to ₹19,900 per square metre, the SC said.
“The then HSIIDC MD in his March 21, 2018, order permitted the conversion of the plots to non-IT industrial plots with a reduced rate of allotment, observing that the IT/software industry had not picked up in the Industrial Park at Rai as compared to other parks developed in Gurgaon and Manesar estates,’’ the apex court said.