Nahar Builders Ltd Vs. Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd

Hon’ble High Court held that once an amount is deposited in this Court, it is placed beyond the reach of either party without permission of the Court. It is, therefore, not ‘the property’ of either party pending an adjudication as to entitlement by the Court. Once the Arbitrator held that it was Nahar Builders that was entitled to this amount, and that award became enforceable as a decree of this court, then no question remained of the amount being claimed by HDIL. In another manner of speaking, from the time the deposit was made until the time withdrawal is ordered, that amount is not the property of either party to the dispute. It is true that an execution against HDIL is presently stayed but this is not an application for execution, nor is it, within the meaning of Section 14(1)(d), an application for ‘the recovery of any property by an owner or lessor where such property is occupied by or is in the possession of corporate debtor’. To read only the words ‘recovery of any property’ as Ms Patil does, but not to read the rest of clause (d) is materially incorrect.