The Congress on Thursday approached the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the Centre and the Delhi Government to execute a conveyance deed in its favour for the bungalow at 7, Jantar Mantar Road, claiming it has remained in possession of the property for nearly seven decades despite having paid the full sale consideration in 1959.Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued notice to the Central and Delhi governments on the plea, but expressed reservations over the maintainability of the writ petition. The court said the Congress’ request for interim protection against creation of third-party rights or coercive action would be examined only after the issue of maintainability is addressed.The matter has now been listed for further hearing in September. Appearing for the party, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi urged the court to restrain the authorities from allotting the property to any third party during the pendency of the case.Singhvi told the court that the Congress had remained the allottee and continued to occupy the premises for decades while repeatedly seeking execution of the conveyance deed from the authorities, but had received neither a rejection nor a final response. He argued that since the party had been in possession of the bungalow for around 70 years, the government should not create any third-party interest in the property while the matter was under consideration.In its petition, the Congress said the bungalow had been allotted to it by the Government of India in 1956. It claimed that the entire sale consideration of Rs 6,10,700 was paid in 1959 along with additional premium and annual ground rent charges, yet the conveyance deed has not been executed for more than six decades.The plea said the property was initially classified as evacuee property before vesting in the Central Government under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954. According to the party, the custodian of evacuee property had formally issued an allotment letter in January 1956 and directed the Congress to take possession of the premises.The petition further claimed that execution of the deed was delayed due to litigation initiated by tenants occupying portions of the property and later because of the 1969 split in the Congress.The Congress also relied on the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling in Janata Dal Party versus Indian National Congress, which recognised the present Congress organisation as the lawful successor to the undivided party and entitled to its properties and funds.Referring to internal government file notings accessed through the RTI Act, the party claimed that officials had acknowledged receipt of the full consideration amount and had recommended execution of the conveyance deed.However, despite multiple representations since 2017, no final decision has allegedly been communicated by the authorities.