Janata Dal (Secular) has been directed by the Supreme Court to hand over by December 31 this year a property in Bangalore to Congress, ending an over 20-year-old legal battle between the two parties for the premises known as Congress Bhavan.
A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Vikramajit Sen directed JD(S) to give an undertaking within a month stating that it would vacate 3, Race Course Road, Bangalore, by the stipulated date, will pay the entire arrears of rent within three months and continue to pay rent without default till it hands over the property to Congress.
The Congress Bhavan became a bone of contention between the two political parties after the 1969 split of Congress into Congress (J) and Congress (O) headed by S Nijalingappa.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) had held Congress (J) was Indian National Congress, a view later upheld by the apex court in 1981.
The Janata Party, which had been formed in 1977 through amalgamation of Congress (O) and some other political parties like Lok Dal headed by Charan Singh, Jana Sangh led by Atal Bihari Vajapayee and Congress for Democracy led by Jagjivan Ram, defeated INC in the general elections that year.
Janata Party came into possession of the property at the same time.
Later, Janata Party broke into different entities and JD(S), which was in possession of the property, leased out certain portions of the premises to various persons claiming that it had such a right.
Congress disputed the claim of JD(S) and filed a civil suit before a trial court which held that since the erstwhile Congress (J) was the INC, as per the ECI and the apex court, therefore, Congress (O), predecessor of JD(S), had not acquired ownership of the property.
