Licensed hoteliers up against lodging houses

By Saptarshi Bhattacharya

CHENNAI, NOV. 6. While the regularisation imbroglio still evades a solution, hundreds of mansions and lodging houses in the city which have been running without proper licence, are facing an uncertain future.

With virtually no regulatory mechanism in place more than 500 shelter spots have come up in different parts of the city in the past few years.

Mushrooming of the ``illegal'' lodging houses has evoked a sharp reaction from licensed hoteliers who are finding it hard to work out a matching tariff structure to keep themselves alive in the market. Having to pay a higher proportion of commercial tax, owners of the licensed lodging houses said they had to recover the money from their guests. Since the tariff worked out high, they were losing business.

The lodging houses are concentrated in and around Triplicane, Park Town, George Town, Choolaimedu, Chepauk, Mannady and Thousand Lights. The charges being reasonable, they cater largely for single middle and lower-middle class working persons in Chennai. Most of them are being run by ``politically influential'' people.

Chennai Corporation officials said at least 90 per cent of these buildings had been constructed without sanctioned plans which prohibited them from seeking trade licence from the civic body.

Though most of the buildings of lodges in the city were being assessed under property tax, as claimed by their owners, the tariff structure in the unlicensed ones has been formulated in such a way to evade commercial tax.

A visit to some of the mansions and lodges in Triplicane area revealed that the tariff for non-airconditioned rooms has been structured to be between Rs. 120 and Rs. 180 per day. The variation depends on whether the room is double bedded, has an attached bathroom, has a telephone or a television.

However, in a few mansions, Kumaran's Inn on C.N. Krishnaswamy Street for example, the tariff for air-conditioned rooms is between Rs. 400 and Rs. 450. Similarly, Mercy Lodge on the same street charges something between Rs. 350 to Rs. 400.

The 400-odd mansion owners, who have come together under the Tamil Nadu Mansion Owners' Association, have been opposing any drastic move by the Government. They said they were willing to regularise the ``violated'' buildings on payment of a fee, but the rates proposed by the Government should be reduced. This would help them obtain a trade licence from the Corporation.

The Tamil Nadu Public Health Act and the Tamil Nadu City Police Act have provisions for ``lodging houses'' to get licence. A court ruling in March 1999 held that the mansions and guest houses were ``liable to take licence under Section 35 of the City Police Act after complying with all the requirements.''

They had to furnish an approved building plan to the police for the grant of a no-objection certificate to get registered with the Chennai Corporation under Section 101 of the TNPH Act, 1939. Subsequently, they would be issued trade licence for a year against payment of a fee.

Though the police, about a year ago, took an initiative, threatening to close down about 25 mansions in George Town and Park Town areas for carrying out an ``illegal trade'', the matter was dragged to court.

There is an apparent lack of pro-active approach on the part of the Government machinery to regulate the mushrooming mansions and bring them under its purview through modifications in rules.

Mr. R. Rajkumar, president, said revision of regularisation fee made no sense as the rate was still exorbitant.

The slipshod approach to the issue has led to a revenue loss for the civic body, the officials said. The issue was taken up in the previous council but was held back. The present council, which has just taken charge, will have to take a serious note of the matter, they felt.

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