Resumption of a plot must be the last resort, Punjab and Haryana High Court lays down a formula for instalment default

30 October 2026

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that taking back an allotted plot must be the last resort when an allottee defaults on instalments, and has set out a formula for working out what an allottee must pay to have a resumption order set aside. The Court was dealing with a plot in Sirsa resumed by the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) for non-payment of instalments. It said the aim is to balance equities: the authority must be put back in the position it would have been in had the money come on time, while the allottee does not lose the plot altogether for a default that can still be made good. The judgment reads the power to resume as a drastic power to be used sparingly, and faults the authority for never having considered whether resumption was really the last resort. The ruling matters across Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, where urban development authorities allot residential and commercial plots on instalments.