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HC stays City Heart auction
THE DISTRICT administration?s plan to auction a portion of the controversial City Heart building to recover unpaid stamp duties received a blow with the High Court granting a stay to the owners.
THE DISTRICT administration’s plan to auction a portion of the controversial City Heart building to recover unpaid stamp duties received a blow with the High Court granting a stay to the owners.
The second floor and roof of the building were to be auctioned on Tuesday. The office of the Registrar (Stamp and Duties) had issued an auction notice in several newspapers last month. After the notice was published, the building owners moved the HC and a divisional bench headed by Chief Justice A K Patnaik stayed the auction on July 19.
This is the third time a stay has been granted against auctioneering proceedings. City Heart is also the subject of a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) for alleged building irregularities. The Lokayukta is also probing the involvement of then Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Shukla for the manner in which building permission was granted to the controversial mall.
District administration officials, however, asserted that they would appeal against the stay. “We will move the Supreme Court and do whatever it takes to ensure that stamp duty due on the property is paid,” said a senior officer.
The City Heart building located at survey No 93 (opposite Chhapan Dukan), New Palasia, has been mired in controversy right from the word go. It all began when Abhishek Housing Co-op Society applied for stamp duty exemption for the land declaring that it would be used for residential purposes.
However, the Society office-bearers later sold off the land to Dr Hemlata Patel, Rekha Karshyap, Shashi Bhushan, Priyanka Srimal, Mayank Srimal and Manish Jhaveri, who built a commercial structure at the site.
As commercial structures are not eligible for stamp duty exemption the Registrar (Stamp and Duties) served a notice to the Society. Nothing, however, has come of the registrar’s attempts as the Society is reported to have disposed of all its holdings.
