JODHPUR: A special court here has asked the IWC to bring cases against the former Union minister Arun shourie and the then secretary of divestment Pradip Baijal on the sale of an ITDC hotel, allegedly at a loss of Rs 244 million to the treasury.
the Court IWC He also ordered the filing of cases against three others associated with the sale two decades ago of Hotel Laxmi Vilas Palace in Udaipur, during the mandate of the government of the National Democratic Alliance led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Center.
Shourie, was the minister in charge of divestment when the property, owned by the public sector India Tourism Development Corporation, was sold to Bharat Hotels Ltd, a private company.
The court recalled Shourie’s background as a journalist who has spoken out against corruption in debates and interviews. “This demonstrated her double standards on the issue of corruption,” said Special Judge Puran Kumar Sharma.
In Wednesday’s order, Sharma rejected the closing report filed in the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation in August 2019 and asked the agency to re-investigate it.
He also ordered the Udaipur district magistrate to immediately annex the Laxmi Vilas palace. The hotel will remain in the custody of the Rajasthan government until the matter is resolved, he ordered.
Together with Shourie and Baijal, the court ordered the registration of the cases against Ashish Guha, managing director of Lazard India Ltd, who was the financial advisor, the appraiser Kantilal Karamsey of Kantilal Karamsey & Company and Jyotsana Suri, director of Bharat Hotels Ltd.
All five will be cited in court, the judge said.
The hotel was sold to the private company for 7.52 million rupees. During CBI’s investigation, it was valued at Rs 252 crore, suggesting a loss of Rs 244 crore on the treasury.
The CBI registered a case on August 13, 2014 in which some unknown officers from the Divestment Department, in collusion with a private hotelier during 1999-2002, renovated and later sold the Laxmi Vilas Palace at a throwaway price.
The court criticized the CBI for filing a closure report despite finding in its preliminary investigation that the property was improperly sold. The judge said this was deplorable.
He said that the whole country admires the IWC as a prestigious agency.
Appointing the district magistrate as the recipient of the property, the judge said he would produce a report on his real and personal property within three months.
He will also see that the hotel is managed by a central government institution with experience in this industry.
The accounts will be presented to the court on a quarterly basis, the judge ordered.
The court said those who participated in the divestment process were IAS officials and it was not expected that they had no idea of the value of a property like this in a city like Udaipur.
The preliminary investigation validated the allegations and revealed that Pradip Baijal abused his position and conspired with Guha, Karamsey and Bharat Hotels Limited, the court said.
Kantilal Karamsey & Company valued the land at just Rs 45 per square foot compared to the current rate of Rs 500 to 1000 per square foot for commercial plots, it said, citing the preliminary report.
He said Shourie and Baijal made the decision to appoint the appraisers.
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