Cancellation Of Hotel Site Auction
UP Govt Tells SC Cancellation Of Hotel Site Auction Justified
The UP government has submitted before the Supreme Court that the process for allotment of land to hospitality companies, including ITC and Indian Hotels Company Ltd, by the previous Mulayam Singh regime was illegal as the transfer of land would have caused a loss of over Rs 4,721 crore to the public exchequer.
Land leases given to various hospitality companies for setting up 14 hotels in Noida for the 2010 Commonwealth Games were scrapped by the Mayawati government citing corruption in land auction.
Stating that the allotments were against public interest as it would have resulted in a loss of more then Rs 4,712 crore, the state government said that the commercial plots could not have been given without resorting to tender process.
"While allotting the plots to the petitioner (ITC) there was also a violation of the Master Plan, Statutory regulations of 1991 and the Building Regulations of 2006 and various provisions of UP Industrial Area development Act 1976," V N Garg, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Industrial Development, UP, stated in a report.
Alleging that the allotments were bad in law due to various illegalities, Garg said that the plots were in commercial areas under the Master Plan notified by the Noida authorities. Therefore, hotel business needed to be treated as an industry and the land allotment had to be made on industrial terms and conditions.
Pointing to illegalities, the state government said that the plot was allotted to ITC at a fixed price of Rs 7,400 per sq meter when the circle rate of the area was Rs 70,000 per sq meter at the time of allotment.
The policy of May 22, 2006, to promote hotel business in view of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games and promote tourism, had to be given effect in its entirety and not only for the purpose of fixation of price of plots and method of allotment. It further asked the Noida authorities to refund the deposited money to the hotel companies and recommended strict disciplinary action against all th officers of Noida who were responsible for illegal allotments of 14 hotel sites in the 3, 4, and 5 star categories.
The report has come in view of the apex court's directions in June last year asking the companies to present their case to the Principle Secretary, Industrial Development Department, UP, for final orders.
The hospitality companies had challenged a Allahabad High Court judgement in which it quashed the cancellation orders passed by the Noida authorities and had remanded the matter to the state government for reconsideration.
Meanwhile, another application has been moved by one Ashutosh Srivastava seeking his impleadment in the on-going matter linked to a petition filed by Vishwanath Chaturvedi in the disproportionate assets case against Mulayam Singh Yadav and his kins.
Srivastava has alleged that the Mulayam Singh government had indulged in corrupt practices while allotting land to hotel sites. The matter is coming up for hearing on January 27.
Source: www.tradingmarktes.com UP Govt tells SC cancellation of hotel site auction justified
The UP government has submitted before the Supreme Court that the process for allotment of land to hospitality companies, including ITC and Indian Hotels Company Ltd, by the previous Mulayam Singh regime was illegal as the transfer of land would have caused a loss of over Rs 4,721 crore to the public exchequer.
Land leases given to various hospitality companies for setting up 14 hotels in Noida for the 2010 Commonwealth Games were scrapped by the Mayawati government citing corruption in land auction.
Stating that the allotments were against public interest as it would have resulted in a loss of more then Rs 4,712 crore, the state government said that the commercial plots could not have been given without resorting to tender process.
"While allotting the plots to the petitioner (ITC) there was also a violation of the Master Plan, Statutory regulations of 1991 and the Building Regulations of 2006 and various provisions of UP Industrial Area development Act 1976," V N Garg, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Industrial Development, UP, stated in a report.
Alleging that the allotments were bad in law due to various illegalities, Garg said that the plots were in commercial areas under the Master Plan notified by the Noida authorities. Therefore, hotel business needed to be treated as an industry and the land allotment had to be made on industrial terms and conditions.
Pointing to illegalities, the state government said that the plot was allotted to ITC at a fixed price of Rs 7,400 per sq meter when the circle rate of the area was Rs 70,000 per sq meter at the time of allotment.
The policy of May 22, 2006, to promote hotel business in view of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games and promote tourism, had to be given effect in its entirety and not only for the purpose of fixation of price of plots and method of allotment. It further asked the Noida authorities to refund the deposited money to the hotel companies and recommended strict disciplinary action against all th officers of Noida who were responsible for illegal allotments of 14 hotel sites in the 3, 4, and 5 star categories.
The report has come in view of the apex court's directions in June last year asking the companies to present their case to the Principle Secretary, Industrial Development Department, UP, for final orders.
The hospitality companies had challenged a Allahabad High Court judgement in which it quashed the cancellation orders passed by the Noida authorities and had remanded the matter to the state government for reconsideration.
Meanwhile, another application has been moved by one Ashutosh Srivastava seeking his impleadment in the on-going matter linked to a petition filed by Vishwanath Chaturvedi in the disproportionate assets case against Mulayam Singh Yadav and his kins.
Srivastava has alleged that the Mulayam Singh government had indulged in corrupt practices while allotting land to hotel sites. The matter is coming up for hearing on January 27.
Source: www.tradingmarktes.com UP Govt tells SC cancellation of hotel site auction justified