'White elephants': High Court asks Himachal to close 18 state-run hotels as state battles massive debt
PTC News Desk: The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh is struggling with significant debt, and the High Court on Thursday ordered the closure of 18 state-owned loss-making hotels, which the judges described as "white elephants". The court also ordered the attachment of Himachal Bhavan, the state guest house in New Delhi, earlier this week.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has stated that they will challenge the ruling at the Supreme Court. However, there is no update on how the state intends to pay off its debts and manage its expenses.
The judgement, according to State Advocate General Anup Kumar Rattan, was "routine" but created news when the court discussed the possibility of auctioning the property.
The High Court's ruling pertains to an execution petition filed by Seli Hydropower. The government has not deposited the upfront payment of Rs 64 crore in the appellate court.
"Therefore, this order has been given by the Executing Court in a normal routine process. But this is becoming news because the High Court has said about auctioning Himachal Bhawan and that this property can also be attached."
State Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi stated that if the hotels are not performing well financially, steps can be taken to improve the situation. "The HPTDC hotels were created during a period when the government wished to boost tourism... These are properties in prime locations. If any of these assets are not performing well financially, we should look into it," Negi said.
Regarding the attachment of the Himachal Bhavan property in Delhi, he stated that the issue dated back to the BJP regime of 2009 when hydroelectric power-related matters "were assigned to them".
The court's ruling came after the government cited financial constraints as the reason why its employees do not receive financial benefits. In line with this, the judge was given information about the business of 56 state-owned hotels.
The court ruled that the hotels must be closed in order to prevent the Tourism Development Corporation from wasting public funds on the maintenance of these "white elephants".
- PTC NEWS
