The government last week issued a demand notice of ₹564 crore for breach of lease conditions at Sujan Singh Park (North) that includes the Ambassador Hotel - the latest in the legal fight between the Centre and the company that runs the complex in the heart of New Delhi.
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In a notice on April 9, the Land and Development Office under the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry asked Sir Sobha Singh and Sons Pvt. Ltd. to pay ₹564 crore in total for “misuse charges” from 1966 onwards for Sujan Singh Park (North). The notice came about a month after another one for ₹178 crore on March 7 for violations of lease conditions for the flats at Sujan Singh Park (South). The notice asked the company to deposit the amount within 30 days, taking the total amount demanded by the government to ₹742 crore.
An official in the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said the Sujan Singh Park (North) complex, which was built to house British officers during World War-II, was meant to be residential and not a hotel. Under a 1944 lease, the company was allotted the land to construct flats, with the condition that 50% would be leased to government officials on payment of a “fair rent” a year after the end of the war. The latest demand notice includes penalties for “construction of hotel area” and “misuse” of rooms and open spaces as motor workshops, tailoring shops, restaurant etc.
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The chairman of the company, Preminder Singh, told The Hindu on Tuesday that the company received the notice on Monday and would study it. “The demand notices are vengeful and retaliatory in nature,” Mr. Singh said.
Mr. Singh said the hotel had been given its license, electric connection and other permissions from the government in 1950. Last week’s demand notice was the first such notice regarding Sujan Singh Park (North), though there had been breach notices earlier, he said.
The company had in 2020 won a case against the government over non-payment of rent for 14 flats at ₹2,400 a month at Sujan Singh Park (South) since 1989 and got a court order to evict the government officials staying there. An eviction attempt on March 4 was unsuccessful, after which the government obtained a stay from the Supreme Court last week.