Judge to assess value of Rushdie's ancestral house

The Delhi high court has asked a single judge to ascertain the value of the 5,373 square yards ancestral property writer Salman Rushdie situated on Flagstaff Road in Civil Lines.

- Shruti Kakkar

A high court division bench of justice Vibhu Bhakru and justice Amit Mahajan passed the direction while setting aside a December 24, 2019 order which had pegged the property's value at ₹130 crore.

"We set aside the impugned order and remand the matter to the single judge to determine the value of the suit property afresh in terms of the directions issued by the Supreme Court. We direct the registrar to place the matter before the concerned single judge on December 11, 2023 and request the single judge to conclude the proceedings as expeditiously as possible," the bench said in the judgment delivered on Tuesday.

The writer's father, Anis Ahmed Rushdie, had agreed to sell the house for ₹3.75 lakh in 1970 to Congress leader Bhiku Ram. The leader paid ₹50,000 as earnest amount and assured the pay the rest later. The deal, however, did not go through as the two families got into a legal dispute accusing each other of not respecting the terms of the agreement.