SC scraps Maya govt order cancelling plot allotments to hotel majors

In a setback to the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the state’s decision to cancel land allotment to 14 leading hoteliers including ITC and Indian Hotels. The plots in Noida were allotted in 2006 during the tenure of Mulayam Singh Yadav to build hotels for international visitors to the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games.
However, the Bench headed by Justice RV Raveendran conceded the UP government’s contention that the allotments were below market prices, causing a loss of R8,000 crore to the exchequer. The court ordered the hotel companies to pay an extra R70,000 per sq m as additional lease premium. The companies must pay 25% of this amount by September 30 and the rest in six monthly instalments. Each company will have to pay roughly R208 crore more to the state government if it wants to keep the plot.
If the companies prefer to surrender the plots rather than pay extra, the state government will refund their deposits with 18% interest. However, if the refunds are made before January 11, 2012, then the interest rate will be 11%.