The Hindu Business Line : Tulip agrees to clear VRS dues for Centaur staff

THE new owner of Centaur Hotel Juhu Beach, Tulip Hospitality Services Ltd, has given an undertaking to the Bombay High Court that it would be making necessary arrangements for funds to settle VRS for eligible employees by mid-August this year.

In November 2001, the Government had accepted the Rs 153-crore bid of Tulip Hospitality Services. Although the Government's directive to Tulip was to deposit the amount within a month, it was able to deposit the full amount for the sale only in May 2002.

Sources said that according to Article 6 of the `Agreement to Sell', which was signed in March 2002, the buyer was supposed to offer VRS to each employee of Centaur Hotel within one year of the transfer of the hotel. The transfer was done in May 2002.

However, when this did not happen, the employees of the hotel filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court.

Following this, in July 2003, the court ordered that VRS be introduced within six months.

The matter of non-payment of VRS was also said to have been discussed at the highest level of the airline and the management was said to have written several letters to Tulip.

It was only when there was no reply from Tulip's side that the High Court was approached in July this year.

The Centaur group of hotels, the flagship of the Hotel Corporation of India, used to run five hotels, including two in Mumbai and one each in Rajgir (Bihar), Delhi and Srinagar. While the two hotels in Mumbai and the one in Rajgir have been divested already, work has started on divesting the properties in Delhi and Srinagar.

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