The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to evade responsibility of finalising the process of auctioning Taj Mansingh, presently run by the Tatas. The council, presided over by chief minister Sheila Dikshit, on Thursday decided to refer the matter to the Solicitor General of India.
The Delhi High Court had in April asked the NDMC to respond to Tata Group's plea seeking to restrain the land-owning agency from auctioning the property on which the hotel is located.
The HC had given Tata's Indian Hotels Company (IHC), which manages the property, permission to approach the court if any coercive steps were taken against it by the NDMC. In its plea, IHC had submitted that it manages the property on which the hotel stands and pays a revenue-share fee to the NDMC, which owns the land.
In the NDMC meeting held last September, the municipal body had decided to give one-year extension to the Tatas for operating Taj Mansingh, besides giving the first right of refusal in an auction to be conducted within one year.
IHC had entered into a 33-year lease for using the property in 1978, which ended in October 2011 and was extended by another year till October 10, 2012.
{{/usCountry}}IHC had entered into a 33-year lease for using the property in 1978, which ended in October 2011 and was extended by another year till October 10, 2012.
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