Congress moves Delhi High Court seeking execution of a sale deed for its former headquarters

The Delhi High Court on Thursday (May 14, 2026) asked the Centre and Delhi Government to respond to a petition by the Indian National Congress seeking the execution of a sale deed in the party’s favour for its former headquarters at 7, Jantar Mantar Road in New Delhi.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued notice to the governments on the petition as well as an application for interim relief.

While senior advocate Abhishek M. Singhvi, appearing for All India Congress Committee, urged the court to pass an interim order to ensure that the premises are not allotted to someone else in the meantime, Justice Kaurav questioned the maintainability of the petition.

“I have a doubt about the maintainability. Therefore, if you have to press for interim relief, you have to satisfy that the petition is maintainable. See what the response of the government is. You perhaps have to file a civil suit.. This seems to be to wriggle out of limitation,” the judge orally said.

Mr. Singhvi said that the petitioner party was an allottee and had been in possession of the property for decades but the authorities had yet to act on its request to execute a sale deed in its favour.

“I have been asking for execution of the conveyance deed repeatedly. There is no denial. There is no response... I am in possession for 70 years. I have everything - all documents, all payments. They should not allot it to somebody else,” Mr. Singhvi contended.

In the petition, the Congress party stated that according to the Delhi Government’s records, it has been in possession of a part of the property since February 1946 and an allotment was made in its favour in 1956.

The plea said that in 1959, the party paid ₹6.1 lakh to the Government of India towards sale consideration, in addition to ₹96,962 and ₹4,849 per annum towards additional premium and additional ground rent for change of user.