Indian Hotels Company ltd (IHCl)-operated the Taj Mahal Hotel, popularly known as Taj Mansingh Hotel, is set to get its fifth extension in a row as the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is yet get a word from the Union Home Ministry over its auctioning. The lease extension, which the IHCl got in March, is going to end on July 31.
Although Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran had submitted his legal opinion on the issue of auctioning the five-star hotel in April this year, the NDMC is yet to receive any official letter on the same. On July 31, the fourth extension of the hotel is going to end and with no communication from the MHA, the agency is left with no option but to give another lease extension to the IHCl to run the luxury hotel.
The NDMC is going to table the matter in its council meeting scheduled for July 16. “We have not received any word from the Home Ministry on how to go about the matter with regard to Taj Mansingh Hotel. Implementing whatever the Ministry directs us on the issue will take a few months. But extension of the lease is inevitable,” said Jalaj Srivastava, chairman, NDMC.
However, the number of months by which the IHCl is set to get the extension is yet to be determined. “The matter will be taken up in our next council meeting. The extension might be either for four or six months,” he added. NDMC had approached the SG on whether the Taj Group should be given the first right of refusal in the auction of the property last year. The council had moved its query through the law and Home Ministries.
In April, SG Parasaran had stated in his legal opinion that the IHCl can continue to run the Taj Mahal hotel located on Mansingh Road in lutyen’s Delhi. Parasaran had mentioned that the NDMC could do so by extension of the lease agreement. Parasaran, in his 60-page opinion, had categorically ruled out the bidding route along with the Right of First Refusal (RoFR) saying that it would violate the Central Vigilance Commission’s guidelines of post-tendering negotiations. He opined for an extension of lease based on mutual agreement as he observed that the joint venture between NDMC and the IHCl of over 30 years was beneficial for the former as well in terms of revenue sharing.
The matter is also in the High Court after Indian Hotels Company (IHC) filed an injunction to get a stay on the auction. IHC, which operates the Taj Group of hotels, had approached the Delhi High Court to secure a stay on the auction of the property in April last year.