SC turns down Shoppers' Stop stay plea

TNN / Jul 13, 2006, 21:09 IST

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A three judge bench of the apex court on Wednesday refused to grant a stay on a petition filed by the Rahejas.

AHMEDABAD: In yet another setback for Raheja group's Shoppers' Stop battle against Reliance for retail space at an Ahmedabad-based mall, the Supreme Court has turned down their plea for a stay on the latter's acquisition of property from the mall developers.
A three judge bench of the apex court comprising K G Balakrishnan, D K Jain and Tarun Chatterjee, on Wednesday refused to grant a stay on a petition filed by the Rahejas.
The bench, however, issued notices to the mall developers ordering them to file an affidavit regarding the history of the case in four weeks time, after which the court is expected to decide whether the matter should be admitted or not.
Meanwhile, the bench suggested that the parties continue with the pending matter in the rural court, which the Rahejas had approached in early April shortly after title clearance advertisements for the space were published.

However, while Reliance group's Pushti Enterprises, which has acquired 1.87 lakh sq ft space for around Rs 100 crore at Iscon Mega Mall from JP group's Divya Arcade, has roped in Harish Salve to represent its case, the mall developers have Arun Jaitley and Ashok Desai as their advocates.
The latest blow for the Rahejas comes less than a week after the Gujarat High Court dismissed Shoppers' Stop's petition on July 6 and vacated an interim stay on transfer of property to Reliance at the upcoming 4.75 lakh sq ft Iscon Megamall on SG Highway, after which Pushti Enterprises and the mall promoters inked a sale deed for Rs 88.37 crore.
The Rahejas were eyeing the space for their Hypercity and Shoppers' Stop outlets and had inked a letter of intent in November 2004 to enter into a lease agreement at a later stage.
Even as Shoppers' Stop officials refused to comment, Reliance officials said plans for Reliance Retail's debut in October were on course.

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