NDMC to decide on Taj Mansingh auction process on November 3

New Delhi: With the Delhi High Court clearing decks for auctioning of the iconic Taj Mansingh Hotel here, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is mulling over the future course of action for auction of the property.

The High Court had yesterday dismissed Indian Hotels Company Ltd's (IHCL) plea challenging the move by NDMC saying the firm has "no right" for renewal of the licence period.

"The court has ruled in our favour. Though there is no clarity yet whether the Tata's will challenge the HC decision but we are deliberating over the future course of action. Anyway there has been no stay on the auction process," NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar said.

"We had already appointed SBI Cap as our financial advisor for the auction process and they had started working on it much before the court petition was filed. We will now be mulling the plan and take a decision in this regard on November 3, when the next council meeting is scheduled," he added.

IHCL had moved the division bench against the September 5 judgement of a single judge who had not acceded to the firm's request for renewal of licence for a further period, saying it was not entitled for the extension.

The property, owned by NDMC, was given to IHCL on a lease of 33 years. The lease had ended in 2011 and the company was given nine temporary extensions since then on various grounds, with three of them granted last year itself.

NDMC had in January this year said it was in the process of assessing the assets of the hotel in preparation for the much-delayed auction.

NDMC, which works under the administrative control of the Union Home Ministry, had got the nod to auction the hotel in March 2015.

The civic body had also selected SBI Cap, which was the Centre's advisor for coal blocks auctions, to be its transaction advisor for the auction of Taj Mansingh.

The advisers are expected to guide the entire auctioning process, from conceptualising the plan to handing it over and signing of the final documents.