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Hotel bill recovery: Court slams brakes on CITCO’s car auction plan
For the auction, which was to be held on February 14, CITCO had set the base price of Audi Q3 car at ₹10 lakh, far lower than its original cost of around ₹55 lakh, whereas the Chevrolet Cruze, which cost around ₹15 lakh when bought, was to be auctioned at the base price of ₹1.5 lakh.
A local court has restrained the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO) from auctioning two luxury cars belonging to two Punjab-based businessmen to recover their outstanding hotel bills worth ₹22 lakh.
The court of civil judge senior division TPS Randhawa has ordered a stay on the car auction till February 20, when the car owners have been directed to present a report.
For the auction, which was to be held on February 14, CITCO had set the base price of Audi Q3 car at ₹10 lakh, far lower than its original cost of around ₹55 lakh, whereas the Chevrolet Cruze, which cost around ₹15 lakh when bought, was to be auctioned at the base price of ₹1.5 lakh.
The cars belong to businessmen Ramnik Bansal of Ferozepur and Ashwani Chopra of Ludhiana, respectively, who had stayed at CITCO’s Hotel Shivalikview from April 4, 2018, to October 13, 2018, but stopped paying their bill after July 15. After they failed to pay dues worth ₹22 lakh, the duo had handed over the keys of their cars as security, but the bill remains uncleared over four years later, leading to CITCO’s decision to auction their cars.
While the court order had not been uploaded till the filing of this report, Bansal’s counsel NK Nanda said, “The court sought a report and ordered a stay. The case will now come up for hearing on February 20.”
