In Brief
This Supreme Court case involved a challenge to a High Court judgment that upheld an allottee's suit against the Estate Officer of Chandigarh for wrongfully cancelling her property allotment due to delayed payment of instalments. The Court dismissed the Special Leave Petition, affirming the High Court's decision. The Court held that while administrative authorities have discretion to condone delays in payment, such discretion must not be exercised discriminatorily. Property cancellation should be a last resort. Where an authority accepts partial payment from one allottee and condones delays for others in similar circumstances, it cannot arbitrarily deny the same relief to another similarly situated allottee, as this violates principles of natural justice and fair play.
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