SHIMLA: Observing that the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation(HPTDC) has failed to come up with any convincing and practical measures to augment its resources despite repeated court orders, the Himachal Pradesh high court on Tuesday ordered closure of 18 loss making prime hotels of the corporation, including The Palace Hotel in Chail, from November 25 across the state.
During the resumed hearing of a petition highlighting non-release of the retiral benefits to pensioners by the HPTDC on Tuesday, Justice Ajay Mohan Goel observed, “In fact, when this court firstly took up the issue and passed a detailed order on 17.09.2024, it expected the respondents to come up with something cogent and concrete, so as to augment the resources of the Tourism Development Corporation, but…..not even a small pebble has been moved/turned by the Tourism Development Corporation in said direction.”
Justice Goel, therefore, directed closure of these 18 hotels in order to ensure that public resources are not wasted by the corporation in the upkeep of these “white elephants” as running of these properties is apparently not financially viable.
The court further ordered that the managing director of the HPTDC shall be personally responsible to ensure the enforcement of this order. It has been directed that the skeletal staff which is necessary for the upkeep of these 18 hotels be retained in the premises and the corporation shall be at liberty to transfer its remaining employees so that its need in other places are duly met.
In its scathing order, the high court also directed the corporation’s managing director to furnish a list of those superannuated employees who belong to Class-IV category and those employees who are no more in the world, so that amount that has been generated from the dues by the corporation can be ordered to be released in their favour.
The court also directed that the corporation shall also apprise the court that how much more amount has been received from the dues which are payable by the government and private entities to the corporation.
