No Leeway To Any Party To Blackmail: Delhi High Court Imposes ₹1 Lakh Cost On Woman Seeking To Restrain Construction

The Delhi High Court has imposed a cost of Rs. 1 lakh on a woman who sought to restrain the construction at a property.

A Writ Petition was filed before the Court, against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

A Single Bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna remarked, “There is no doubt that this Court takes very serious note of cases wherever unauthorized construction is carried out, however, the same does not give any leeway to any party to blackmail such persons, who are raising such construction. This is clearly a gross abuse of the process of law.”

The Bench added that the Writ Petition is filed by way of oblique motives and not for the purposes of seeking justice, for which the Courts of Law have been established.

Factual Background

The Petitioner namely Manorama Sakkerwal sought directions to the Respondents-authorities for restraining the further construction at the property situated in Raiger Pura, Karol Bagh, New Delhi. The counsel for the Respondents submitted that the Petitioner does not reside in the property in question and that the same is lying vacant for more than last twenty (20) years.

A Civil Suit was filed by the Petitioner seeking action against the alleged unauthorized construction in the property in question. After dismissal of the said suit, the Petitioner after having her Aadhaar Card updated in May 2025, filed the Writ Petition before the High Court.

Reasoning

The High Court in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, observed, “It is well settled by a long line of judicial pronouncements that a petitioner, who seeks to invoke the extraordinary, equitable and discretionary writ jurisdiction of this Court, must come with clean hands and put forward all the facts before this Court, without concealing or suppressing any fact. In case, any party makes a false statement before this Court or suppresses any material facts or attempts to mislead the Court, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed on this ground alone.”

The Court said that no party can be allowed to use the process of the Court for ulterior motives and with a view to extort money from another party on the basis that such party is carrying out unauthorized construction.

“… in view of the detailed discussion hereinabove, the present writ petition is dismissed with cost of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lac), to be paid by the petitioner. … The SHO, Police Station - Prasad Nagar, Karol Bagh, is directed to take appropriate action on the complaint made by respondent no. 4”, it directed.

Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the Writ Petition and directed the Petitioner to deposit the cost within six weeks.

Cause Title- Manorama Sakkerwal v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025:DHC:9314)

Appearance:

SPC Abhishek Khanna, Advocates Gyanendra Kumar, Gaganmeet Singh Sachdeva, Harshpreet Singh Chadha, Hridyesh Khanna, and Sneha Rawat.

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