Tatas’ IHC to move SC on Taj Mansingh

: Tata Group hospitality arm, Indian Hotels Company, said it plans to challenge a decision of Delhi High Court, which dismissed its appeal against the auctioning of iconic Taj Mansingh Hotel by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

“The company proposes to challenge the dismissal of appeal in the Supreme Court,” Indian Hotels Company said in a BSE filing.

The company had filed an appeal challenging the earlier judgment dated September 5, 2016 of Delhi High Court before a division bench of the High Court. “By the judgment dated October 27, 2016, the company’s appeal has been dismissed,” it added.

Initially, Indian Hotels had filed a injunction suit against NDMC in April, 2013, before Delhi High Court seeking to restrain NDMC from going ahead with its decision to opt for auction of the hotel.

A bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani observed on October 27, that NDMC was “within its power” to secure maximum consideration for grant of licence for the property at the prime location of 1, Mansingh Road in Lutyen’s Delhi.

33-year lease

“To put it pithily, IHCL (which runs the hotel) has no right under the licence for a renewal thereof and therefore no further issue needs to be considered and decided,” the bench said while dismissing IHCL’s appeal in which it had challenged a single judge order dismissing their suit seeking to restrain NDMC from auctioning the property.

The property, owned by NDMC, was given to IHCL on a lease of 33 years.

The lease had ended in 2011 and the company was given nine temporary extensions since then on various grounds, with three of them granted last year.

With the Delhi High Court clearing decks for auctioning of the iconic Taj Mansingh Hotel here, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is mulling over the future course of action for auction of the property.

“The court has ruled in our favour. Though there is no clarity yet whether the Tata’s will challenge the HC decision but we are deliberating over the future course of action,” NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar said. “Anyway there has been no stay on the auction process.”

“We had already appointed SBI Cap as our financial advisor for the auction process and they had started working on it much before the court petition was filed. We will now be mulling the plan and take a decision in this regard on November 3, when the next council meeting is scheduled.”

Auction nod NDMC had in January said it was in the process of assessing the assets of the hotel in preparation for the auction. NDMC, which works under the administrative control of the Union Home Ministry, had got the nod for auction in March 2015.

The civic body had also selected SBI Cap, which was the Centre’s advisor for coal blocks auctions, to be its transaction advisor for the auction of Taj Mansingh hotel.