Before court today, Sir Sobha Singh Trust plea against RSS affiliate over rent dues of ’15 years’

Office of Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh in Shobha Singh Building at Ajmeri Gate, New Delhi. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

A petition by the Sir Sobha Singh Public Charitable Trust over alleged non-payment of rent by RSS-affiliated trade outfit Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), among others, for four of its properties is coming up for a hearing before the Tis Hazari Court on Friday.

The rented premises comprise four rooms across two floors of the Sir Sobha Singh Building, located near the New Delhi Railway Station, which was once the headquarters of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the precursor to the BJP. The BMS occupies the four premises as its Delhi headquarters now.

The four matters related to the four portions are in court. In its petition, which was filed in 2021, the Sir Sobha Singh Trust has said that the respondents have been in continuous rent default for 15 years and continue to occupy the premises without authorisation.

Cases have been filed against Deshraj Gupta over three portions, and Jagdish Prasad Mathur over one (both Deshraj and Mathur are no more). Deshraj was the son of Hansraj Gupta, the late mayor of Delhi. The three other sons of Hansraj – Shiv Raj (also deceased), Rajendra (ex-Mayor and former Delhi minister) and Mahendra – are also named as respondents, as is the BMS.

Hansraj served as the Delhi Prant Sangh Chalak of the RSS for years and was mayor of Delhi Nagar Nigam from 1967 to 1972, as a Jan Sangh candidate. Mathur was an RSS pracharak who worked with the Jan Sangh and later with the BJP for decades.

Court records suggest that with none of the other respondents turning up in court, the BMS alone is fighting the legal battle.

On January 28 this year, the BMS offered to pay the arrears, says its advocate Adarsh Tiwari. “Our case is solid. A certain rent amount is outstanding, and that we will pay.”

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While the advocate of the Trust, Anand Singh, declined to comment, a source said: “They (the tenants) have been occupying the building unauthorisedly and not paying rent for several years.”

The BMS was founded in 1955 by Dattopant Thengdi. When the Jan Sangh started functioning from the building, it was a struggling outfit, and found its feet after 1967, when it became a part of coalition governments in a few states. A nearby building is now owned by the BJP and is still being used by it.

The Trust claims it has received no rent from the tenants since January 2006, with the arrears standing at more than Rs 1.27 lakh as of February 28, 2021.

According to the Trust’s petition, the tenancy was created around 1951 in the name of Hansraj, who was also an industrialist, with the premises to be used as a personal office linked to his work with both the BMS and Jan Sangh. Records show that the rent for one of the four portions was Rs 849.20 per month in 2013.

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The Trust says rent and house tax were paid till 2005, with the last recorded payment of Rs 1,281 received by cheque dated January 24, 2006, for one of the portions.

As per the petition, on April 23, 2013, trustee Preminder Singh sent a notice seeking Rs 54,393 in arrears and invoking Section 6A of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, which allows a 10% rent increase every three years. By that calculation, the monthly rent for a portion was Rs 772 in June 2013.

Again, on August 14, 2020, the Trust sent a notice to Gupta’s four sons and the BMS. The notice gave 15 days to pay the dues of Rs 2.48 lakh, with 15% interest, as well as to restore the premises and vacate.

The Trust has cited “unauthorised subletting” and “structural damage” as a second ground for eviction. As per its petition, a site inspection on July 14, 2020, showed the Gupta brothers no longer possessed the building and it was solely occupied by the BMS. And that the open balcony and verandah in front of the tenanted area had been enclosed and an unauthorised shed erected.

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The Sir Sobha Singh Public Charitable Trust was created in March 1961 by Sardar Bahadur Sir Sobha Singh, with an initial endowment of Rs 5,000. Sir Sobha Singh was one of the principal contractors for Lutyens New Delhi, and behind the construction of historic buildings such as the South Block, the National Museum and parts of Connaught Place and India Gate.

The Trust’s original trustees included S Ujjal Singh (later Governor of Punjab and Tamil Nadu), S Bhagwan Singh, writer Khushwant Singh, S Daljit Singh and R B Nathu Ram.

Shyamlal Yadav is one of the pioneers of the effective use of RTI for investigative reporting. He is a member of the Investigative Team. His reporting on polluted rivers, foreign travel of public servants, MPs appointing relatives as assistants, fake journals, LIC’s lapsed policies, Honorary doctorates conferred to politicians and officials, Bank officials putting their own money into Jan Dhan accounts and more has made a huge impact. He is member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). He has been part of global investigations like Paradise Papers, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, Uber Files and Hidden Treasures. After his investigation in March 2023 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York returned 16 antiquities to India. Besides investigative work, he keeps writing on social and political issues. ... Read More