After Delhi court denies a stay, the Central government takes over Jaipur Polo Ground

A Delhi court on Friday refused to stop the Central government from taking over the Jaipur Polo Ground in Lutyens Delhi which the Indian Polo Association manages.

Vacation Judge Dhirendra Rana of the Patiala House Court said that he was not inclined to stay the execution of the eviction order issued by the government on May 20.

"As far as staying of execution of impugned order till next date of hearing is concerned, I am not inclined to accept this request. Similar kind of request was moved before Ld. Principal District & Sessions Judge, PHC and Hon'ble Delhi High Court and no relief was granted to the appellant. Therefore, keeping in view the judicial discipline and proprietary, I am not inclined to stay the execution of impugned order even till next date," the Court said.

Lawyers from both the Central government and the Indian Polo Association confirmed that the government had moved to take over the ground.

When the matter came up for hearing before Judge Rana on Friday (June 12), the counsel appearing for the Central government asked for time to reply to the application for stay and the plea challenging the eviction notice.

The request was opposed by the counsel appearing for the Indian Polo Association. The counsel asked the Court to stay the execution of the eviction order till the time the government files its response.

Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Ashish Dixit appeared for the government and argued that an incorrect submission was made before the Delhi High Court that the stay application was not decided by the district judge.

He said that no such application has been filed, and only an interim prayer has been made without making any pleading for the grant of interim relief.

After hearing the arguments, Judge Rana noted that on June 3, the District Judge did not stay the eviction notice, and the writ petition by the Indian Polo Association was disposed of on June 8 without any stay being granted.

Therefore, he also refused to stay the eviction order and asked the government to file its response to the plea as well as the stay application.

Senior Advocate Akshay Makhija, with advocates Major Nirvikar Singh, Rohan Bata, Rishi Agrawala, Tarini Khurana, Muskan Sethi, Rishab Bharghav and Dhruv Sethi represented the Indian Polo Association.

CGSC Ashish Dixit along with advocates Jasmeet Kaur, Pushpreet Singh, Umar Hashmi, Amit Sharma and Gaurav Singh appeared for the Central government.