The Hindu : Karnataka News : Court stays action on Windsor Manor hotel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 11, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Court stays action on Windsor Manor hotel

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, FEB. 10. The Karnataka High Court on Thursday stayed the eviction proceedings against ITC Windsor Manor Sheraton on Sankey Road and enhanced the monthly rent from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 6 lakhs from January 2005.

In an interim order, Justice N. Kumar directed the hotel to deposit before the court the enhanced rent on or before the 10th of every month. He said the rent for January and February 2005 should be deposited before the court by February 28.

Mr. Justice Kumar passed the order on a petition by ITC Hotels Ltd. New Delhi, and ITC Hotel Windsor Sheraton challenging the order of August 12, 2002 of the Competent Officer under the Karnataka Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1974, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Karnataka State Board for Wakfs initiating eviction proceedings against the hotel. The hotel challenged the constitutional validity of Section 2 (e) (v) of the 1974 Act as substituted by the Karnataka Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupation) Act, 1999.

ITC said it was incorporated as a corporation in 1956. It said the Windsor Manor building was initially known as Baqarabad (also as Bedford House) and belonged to Aga Ali Askar, a Shia Muslim, who on October 10, 1880 willed it to the Wakf Board. On October 15, 1973 the board executed a lease for 30 years in favour of Monarch Corporation.

Monarhc later assigned the leasehold in favour of Vishwakarma Hotel Ltd. (which later came to be known as ITC Hotels). The hotel said it had been in lawful possession of the property since September 13, 1974.

Contesting the eviction order, the hotel said the Competent Officer did not have the jurisdiction to pass the eviction order or proceed against it under the Karnataka Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupation) Act. It urged the court to stay further proceedings in the case.

The Wakfs Board said the hotel was paying a rent of Rs. 6,000 a month for a property on 1.66 lakh square feet of prime land in the heart of the city. This was inadequate and the hotel was occupying the land on the basis of an instrument that had no sanctity under the law. Justice Kumar ordered issue of notices to the respondents and directed the Unon and State Governments to file within eight weeks counters.

He said when the validity of the Act was being challenged it was appropriate that all further proceedings on the eviction notice be stayed.

He said the Wakf Board can make an application and give reasons for withdrawing the rent deposited with the court. He adjourned further hearing on the matter.

Bail plea rejected

Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh on Thursday rejected the bail application of a person who was accused in the church bomb blasts in Wadi, Gulbarga district. On June 8, 2000, two bombs exploded in the morning at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Wadi. The police on July 25, 2000 arrested Syed Amir Hamza, a member of the Deendhar Anjuman sect.

The police said Hamza and other members of the sect had met the head of the sect, a Pakistani, in Hubli, Bangalore and Hyderabad and had been trained to wage war against India. Hamza said he was in judicial custody since his arrest. He sought release on bail.

Notice to Govt.

A Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice, Nauvdip Kumar Sodhi, and Justice B. Padmaraj on Thursday ordered issue of notice to the State Government, Godavari Sugar Mills and other respondents on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition by a resident of Jamkhandi in Bagalkot district.

The petitioner, Ningappa Sagarappa Devarkar, prayed for the closure of the sugar mill and Somaiya Distilleries and Somaiya Organic Chemicals at Sameervadi as they were polluting the environment.

He said the waste discharged by the factories was polluting agricultural land. He said the authorities had not taken any action despite several representations. The court adjourned further hearing on the petition.

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