The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) may cancel the licence of Bharat Hotel, which operates the five-star property in the capital ‘The Lalit’. A decision on the cancellation is likely to be taken up for consideration at the upcoming NDMC’s council meeting on June 13, sources said.

NDMC is contemplating such a drastic action of licence cancellation for “incurable violations” of terms and conditions of the licence deed, as Bharat Hotels has sold out the licensed public property (Bharat Hotels), which is strictly prohibited in the licence deed, they added.

On June 13, NDMC will also take up a SBI Caps recommendation to demand licence fee after the expiry of first thirty three years i.e., from March 11, 2014 onwards in line with the rates finally decided by the council till the date of cancellation of the licence deed. After this, such amount will be raised as damages instead of licence fee, till the actual possession of the property is handed over by the hotel to the NDMC.

“We have received the recommendations of SBI Caps and now the council will take a decision on it in its meeting, which is to take place this week,” said an NDMC official

The council had appointed SBI Caps to determine the market value of the licence fee. After the revision of the fees, The Lalit in the capital may have to pay a licence fee of between ₹96 crore and ₹98.5 crore per annum in line with the current market rate. The hotel is currently paying a licence fee of about ₹1.44 crore annually.

Last year, the NDMC also revised the licence fee of Taj Mansingh after it won the e-auction conducted by the civic body. The Tatas bagged the 33-year lease contract for the property from NDMC.

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