New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Friday said the house of former Delhi University law faculty professor Lotika Sarkar - in an ownership dispute for almost a year - would be sealed till the matter was resolved.
Hearing an urgent application by Preeti Dhoundial, wife of Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Nirmal Dhoundial, Justice S.N.Dhingra said: “Till the final disposal of the appeal, the house will be sealed.”

A tribunal, set up under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007, had Thursday ordered the 87-year-old Sarkar to stay in her house and directed the deputy commissioner of police (south district) to immediately evict the Dhoundials, who claimed she had gifted them the property, from her house.

During the hearing in the court Friday, Dhoundial’s counsel agreed to vacate the house but questioned the tribunal’s order, contending the house had given to the Dhoundials under the Gifts Deed Act in 2007 and the tribunal’s order was a violation.

The court will hear the matter further on Nov 12.

Sarkar, widow of journalist Chanchal Sarkar, owns a house in the upmarket Hauz Khas in south Delhi. A tussle over the ownership came into the limelight when a national daily highlighted her plight and the fight between Dhondial and another person regarding the ownership of the house. Both claim that Lotika had bequeathed them the house, which is worth around Rs.50 million.