NLUO XITH INTRA UNIVERSITY MOOT COURT COMPETITION 2019 – PHASE I

The Moot Problem has been drafted by Mr. Shrutanjaya Bhardwaj, Michigan Law School
(LL.M.) – Batch of 2018-19, NLU Delhi (LL.B.) – Batch of 2012-17, Associate, Chambers of Sr.
Adv. Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan & Adv. Ms. Haripriya Padmanabhan. The participants or
their affiliates are barred from approaching the drafter for any kind of assistance regarding this
competition. Any contact shall lead to immediate disqualification of the concerned participant.
 NLUO XITH INTRA UNIVERSITY MOOT COURT COMPETITION 2019 – PHASE I

MOOT PROPOSITION

¶A. Vivaadbhoomi is a city in Odisha. For over 40 years now, the Municipal
Corporation of Vivaadbhoomi (MCV) has been maintaining a public park on the banks of the
Mahanadi. The park is one of the most beautiful destinations in the city, and hence one of the
favourite places for all residents alike to spend their evenings at. Not only is it a place for people
to take walks, play sports and celebrate picnics, but it is also a frequent venue for social awareness
events conducted by NGOs and individual residents alike. The MCV spends a considerable sum
of money every month towards the park’s maintenance and beautification. Many people have
praised its efforts in doing so, hailing the park as culturally one of the most vibrant spaces in the
city. Perhaps the park’s most noticeable feature is the Vruksh Kendra at its centre. The Kendra
contains several hundreds of tall trees planted beautifully in rows and placed together densely
which constantly shields the occupants from the Sun.

¶B. Lately, the Kendra has been the center of a big controversy. As summer approached
in 2018, several homeless persons from across Vivaadbhoomi flocked to the park. They sought
refuge from the oncoming heat in the shade offered by the trees in the Kendra. The MCV knew of
this, but no action was taken against the homeless persons because Mr. Karun, then the Chairman
of the MCV, sympathized with them. Consequently, these persons (“the Kendra occupants”)
stayed in the park from the beginning of April 2018 till the end of June 2019. Most of them started
their own occupations inside or near the park, such as fruit-selling and rickshaw-pulling. Some of
them also found menial jobs in the surrounding restaurants and offices. Their kids began attending
the public schools nearby. Over the past year and a half, approximately 600 homeless persons have
settled in the park with their families.

¶C. This did not go down very well with the residents. In the beginning of June 2019,
as Mr. Karun’s tenure as Chairman approached its end, a strong movement started emerging
against the “permanent” presence of the Kendra occupants in the park. Several associations such
as the Association of the Entitled Folks of Vivaadbhoomi (AEFV), the Organization of Privileged
& Uptight Park-Lovers (OPUPL) and the Elite Odiya Residents Club (EORC) filed representations
before the MCV asking for strict measures to be taken against the persons unlawfully encroaching
on public property. They wrote: “The AECF, the OPPL and the EORC unanimously condemn the

Page | 1 of 4
 NLUO XITH INTRA UNIVERSITY MOOT COURT COMPETITION 2019 – PHASE I

impunity shown by the MCV in arbitrarily allowing the unauthorized occupation of a once-
beautiful public park. The aesthetic appeal of the park, specifically the Kendra, is nearly non-
existent now. May we gently remind the Chairman that the park was constructed and is maintained
using taxpayers’ money, and it is only fair that the taxpayers get to use it before anyone else. There
is a limit to charity.”

¶D. In the face of this resistance, Mr. Karun feared that his successor in office would
not be sympathetic towards the Kendra occupants and the livelihoods they had established. In a
clear attempt to protect their interests, he signed an agreement with all of them on 28th June 2019.
The relevant terms of the agreement are extracted below:

1. This contract is executed in recognition of the Kendra occupants’ fundamental right to

livelihood.

2. No Kendra occupant shall be evicted from the Kendra before 1st October 2022. In lieu of
this, beginning 1st July 2019 and ending 1st September 2022, every Kendra occupant
(except minors) shall pay a sum of Rs. 10 per month to the MCV on the first date of every
month.

3. By 31st August 2022, the MCV shall construct an apartment complex in Vivaadbhoomi
having a capacity to house all 1800 Kendra occupants. Within the first week of September
2022, the houses within this complex shall be allotted to the Kendra occupants on a random
basis. The MCV shall ensure that every Kendra occupant is allotted a house.

4. Thereafter, the Kendra occupants shall be given three weeks to vacate the Kendra. All
Kendra occupants shall comply with the Chairman’s orders in this respect and vacate the
Kendra when ordered to do so without any resistance.

¶E. This measure was deeply appreciated by the Kendra occupants and criticized in
equal measure by the AECF, OPUPL and EORC. After Mr. Karun retired, Mr. Zaalim took charge
as the new Chairman of MCV with effect from 1st July 2019. He was shocked at the impunity
shown by the MCV (a body he viewed as directly responsible to the taxpayers) under Mr. Karun’s
chairmanship. In his determination to bring the encroachers to justice, he began a mass eviction
programme under which all Kendra occupants were ordered to vacate the park by 7th July 2019.

Page | 2 of 4
 NLUO XITH INTRA UNIVERSITY MOOT COURT COMPETITION 2019 – PHASE I

¶F. Resisting this, the Kendra occupants filed a civil suit against the MCV for breach
of contract, seeking a decree restraining the MCV from evicting the occupants from the Kendra
before 1st October 2022. On the first date of the hearing, the City Civil Court of Vivaadbhoomi
was pleased to grant a stay on Mr. Zaalim’s mass eviction programme until the suit was decided.
On the second date of hearing, 10th July 2019, the MCV, represented in court by the Advocate
General for Odisha, argued that the so-called agreement signed between the MCV and the Kendra
occupants is not a valid agreement under the Indian Contract Act, 1872 as it lacks adequate
consideration. Next, assuming arguendo that an agreement was formed, the MCV claims that it is
void under Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 because it contravenes the public policy
stated in the MCV Act, 1996. The Kendra occupants responded by arguing that the agreement was
validly formed through adequate consideration, and that it is completely in consonance with Indian
public policy as it seeks to protect citizens’ fundamental rights. In the words of their lawyer (as
quoted in a national media outlet), “if a contract protecting fundamental rights is not consonant
with public policy, I don’t know what is.”

¶G. The relevant portions of the MCV Act, 1996 are given below:

Preamble: An Act providing for the establishment of the Municipal Corporation of

Vivaadbhoomi (MCV).

Section 2(f): “communal facilities” are defined as hospitals, playgrounds,

parks, schools and other places of public accommodation maintained out of
the funds of the MCV.

Section 4: The Chairman, MCV shall, in his discretion, have the power and
authority to enter into contracts with any person in respect of the use or
non-use of communal facilities. Such contracts shall bind the MCV.

Section 7: The Chairman, MCV shall have full power and authority to evict
unauthorized occupants from communal facilities.

Section 20: It is the public policy of India to strive to progressively realize

a society where access to communal facilities is exclusively reserved to
taxpayers. The MCV shall be guided by this policy goal.

Page | 3 of 4
 NLUO XITH INTRA UNIVERSITY MOOT COURT COMPETITION 2019 – PHASE I

¶H. The matter is posted for final hearing before the City Civil Court, Vivaadbhoomi
from 16th to 18th August 2019. According to the Court’s order dated 10th July 2019, the final
hearing will be strictly limited to the following issues:

1. Does the Agreement specify adequate consideration to be paid by the Kendra

occupants? If this question is answered in the affirmative, the Court shall
conclude that a valid agreement was formed on 28th June 2019.

2. Is the contract void under Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872?1

1
DISCLAIMER
T he instant moot proposition is a work of fiction, artificial and created only for
academic purposes. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incident s
are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any
resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Page | 4 of 4