The Himachal Pradesh government and the Oberoi Group were locked in legal battle for ownership of Shimla’s historic Wildflower Hall for over two decades.
In Short
- Supreme Court orders East India Hotels to vacate Shimla’s Wildflower Hall
- Oberoi Group to surrender possession to Himachal government within a year
- Legal dispute over hotel ownership continued for over two decades
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the East India Hotels Limited (the flagship company of the Oberoi group) and others to vacate Shimla’s Wildflower Hall luxury hotel. The takeover of the luxury hotel by the state government was mandated by a High Court order, a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court.
Accordingly, the Oberoi Group has been asked to surrender possession of the over 120-year-old structure to Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) within a year.
ABOUT THE OWNERSHIP BATTLE
Originally owned by Lord Kitchener, Wildflower Hall operated as a hotel under the management of HP Tourism Development Corporation until a devastating fire in 1993.
The resort acquired two owners in 1995 when the then Congress government entered into a joint venture with East India Hotels Limited as a first step towards disinvestment in the tourism sector.
The project operated smoothly till 1998, when the BJP government came to power in the state.
In March 2002, the Prem Kumar Dhumal-led state government annulled the joint venture on the grounds that the EIH had failed to make the hotel fully operational in the stipulated six years, the deadline having lapsed in October 2001. The charge was refuted by the EIH, which termed the state government’s action “illegal and invalid”.
The Himachal Pradesh government proposed allowing EIH to continue operating the hotel with all its rights and liabilities on a leasehold basis and terminated the joint venture. However, EIH was not okay with the fresh terms and took the matter to court, and the legal dispute continued for over two decades.