Calcutta HC: Mizoram's scrapped Kolkata land sale was 'regime revenge'

Mizoram has lost its appeal to keep a 53-year-old government plot in south Kolkata. A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court has ruled that the state's decision to call off the sale of the old Mizoram House land at Ballygunge, after full payment had been received, was arbitrary and looked like "regime revenge".

The Bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray dismissed the State of Mizoram's appeal (FMA 772 of 2024) on Friday, November 13, legal news sites LawChakra, Verdictum and Court Book reported. The state now has eight more weeks to sign and register the sale deed in favour of the buyer, Excel Vincom Private Limited.

The plot and the deal, in figures

• The land: 24, Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, Ballygunge, Kolkata 700019, bought by the Mizoram government in 1973. It housed the state's guest house, the only Mizoram House in Kolkata until 1998, and its Kolkata offices. The old building was demolished in 2020 (LawChakra).
• Size: a 26-cottah plot, The Times of India reported in 2024. At the usual Kolkata measure of 720 sq ft a cottah, that is roughly 18,700 sq ft.
• The tender: an e-tender-cum-e-auction issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) under No. A.60011/200/2011 GAD (Vol.II) dated May 26, 2023, according to the cancellation notice as reported by India Today NE.
• The price: about Rs 38.3 crore, paid in full along with penal interest for a delayed instalment. By NEInsider's arithmetic, that is about Rs 1.47 crore a cottah.
• The agreement: an unregistered agreement for sale was signed on October 6, 2023. With elections close, the state told the buyer the deed would be signed after the polls (LawChakra).

How it unravelled

The Zoram People's Movement government led by Lalduhoma took charge on December 8, 2023, replacing the Mizo National Front government of Zoramthanga that had run the sale. On January 4, 2024, a GAD notification issued by Commissioner and Secretary K. Lalthawmmawia cancelled the whole bid process. It cited public interest, promised a refund and ruled out compensation or interest, India Today NE reported at the time.

The new government acted on representations from the Kolkata Mizo Students and the Calcutta Mizo Welfare Association, which stressed the property's history and its role as a refuge for Mizo students and professionals in the city. In court, the state also said it wanted to put up a G+3 building on the plot to house critically ill patients from Mizoram travelling to Kolkata for treatment. It said its other two guest houses, at Salt Lake and New Town, were overcrowded, the Times of India reported.

On April 2, 2024, Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya set aside the cancellation and ordered the sale deed to be executed within six weeks. According to the Times of India, he wrote that "the mere populist measures sought to be taken by the new regime" could not cancel rights that flowed from a public tender. Mizoram appealed.

What the Division Bench said

Advocate General Biswajit Deb argued that the change of government was not the reason, and that the earlier government had not followed Rule 309 of the General Financial Rules, 2017, and had no in-principle approval from the Council of Ministers.

The Bench accepted that the tender let the state cancel before conveyance, but held that the power must still meet Article 14's test of fairness, Verdictum reported. It found that the state had taken the full price without protest and put off only the formal signing because of the election. The new government then cancelled without any talks with the buyer.

Two representations from community bodies did not add up to the "overwhelming and demonstrable" public interest needed to undo a near-complete deal, the court said, according to Court Book. The state had also not claimed the land was sold too cheaply. "It does appear to us that this is a case of 'regime revenge'," the Bench wrote, as quoted by Verdictum and LawChakra.

What it means for Mizos in Kolkata

Patients from Mizoram travel to Kolkata for treatment the state says it cannot offer at home, and the city's Mizo student and welfare bodies had wanted the Ballygunge plot kept as a community base. If the order stands, the state's plan for a patient building cannot go ahead on this plot. Salt Lake and New Town remain the state's guest houses in the city, and the state's own court filings described both as crowded.

Beyond Mizoram, the judgment says that once a buyer has signed and paid in full under a public tender, a new government cannot simply walk away without showing a clear public interest.

What happens next

The eight-week extension runs from November 13, so Mizoram has until about January 8, 2027 to execute the deed and help register it. It can still try the Supreme Court. NEInsider found no reported response from the Mizoram government to the ruling by Sunday evening. We will update this story if the state appeals or signs the deed.