Courts Should Not Review Pricing: Sc

The Supreme Court held last week that courts could not go into the question of escalation of price of land or flats being sold by a government agency.

Pricing, costing and escalation of price could not be interfered with in writ petitions moved in the high courts, the apex court said in the judgment on an appeal by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

There was a difference of opinion on this point in the Delhi High Court. While one Bench of the Delhi High Court held that the pricing could be examined by courts in a writ petition, another had the contrary view that the courts could not go into the question of costing or escalation of cost.

Therefore, a full Bench reconsidered the whole question and came to the conclusion that the courts should not do judicial review of the pricing.

The Supreme Court Bench comprising Justice V N Khare, Justice Shivaraj Patil and Justice Ashok Bhan largely agreed with this view.

In this case, the DDA had finalised the price of flats in 1979 at a certain rate. However, it could not sell the flats at that rate and a long time elapsed. In 1991, it increased the rate several times and offered to sell the same flats.

This was challenged in the high courts by several buyers. Some were lucky to get judgments in their favour from one Bench, while another set of buyers were disappointed by the contrary decision of another Bench.

Regarding the difference of opinion in the Delhi High Court, the Supreme Court explained that