MTDC assures HC of not taking possession of hotels at tourist destinations

Mumbai: The vacation bench of the Bombay high court rapped the Maharashtra Tourism Department Corporation (MTDC) for acting arbitrarily and issuing notices of possession of the premises of hotels, which had taken properties on lease, located in various tourist destinations in the state.

Advocates representing the corporation assured the court that it was not going to take possession of the subject properties. The court then allowed the parties to decide on the arbitrator to be appointed in the matter and posted hearing of the petitions to May 24.

Owners of two of the aggrieved hotels approached the HC after the MTDC refused to renew the lease of the properties that were initially leased to them in 1990 for a period of 30 years. There are six such properties of the MTDC — Mahabaleshwar, Lonavala, Matheran, Ganeshpuri, Panchgani and Jalgaon.

The hotels had applied for renewal of the lease for a further period of 30 years, which was initially accepted by the corporation. However, on May 10 and 11, the corporation issued notices to both the hotels refusing to renew the lease and asked them to hand over possession of the premises immediately.

While raising grievances against the May 10 and 11 notice issued by the MTDC to the lease holders of the land Tanna Hotels and Om Associates, which had constructed hotels at Mahabaleshwar and Jalgaon respectively, the advocates of both the firms informed the HC division bench of justice Abhay Ahuja and justice MM Sathaye on May 22 that the notices were arbitrary and capricious and hence should be set aside.

Advocates Kirit Hakani, Niyati Mankad, Advait Dalvi and Shreya Gosavi for the petitioners informed the bench that the two firms had got land on lease from the MTDC in 1990 and had constructed hotel complexes. As the lease was coming to an end in 2020, they had addressed communications to the MTDC for renewal of the leases and had also paid the requisite fees for initiating the renewal process in 2017 for Tanna Hotels and in 2019 for Om Associates.

The bench was informed that the corporation had granted interim lease to both in October 2020 and had directed them to comply with certain conditions for renewal. The conditions were complied with within 15 days, but the renewal procedure was not completed. Reminders for renewal of the lease were sent in April 2023.

The bench was also informed, to the shock and surprise of the leaseholders, that the corporation issued them notices asking them to hand over possession of the land, failing which it would be taken over forcefully. The court was also informed that the lease holders were not permitted to invoke the arbitration clause of the lease either.

After hearing the submissions, the bench was miffed at the MTDC for not following proper procedure of issuing six-month prior notice to the lease holders for assessing the status of the land nor giving them an opportunity to be heard.

Advocates L M Acharya, Anish Khandekar and U Shaikh for the MTDC on instructions of the officer Sanjay Dhekane, senior manager, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation Limited, assured the bench that it was not going to take possession of the subject properties.

After hearing the response, the bench allowed the parties to decide on the arbitrator to be appointed in the matter and posted hearing of the petitions to May 24.