NDMC may charge Hotel Lalit Rs 8 crore per month license fees

Hotel Lalit in Central Delhi will soon have to cough up around Rs 8 crore a month as license fees to the NDMC as the civic body is planning to revise the charges.

The revision of the license fees has been long due for the hotel. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is supposed to renew the licence fee every 33 years as per the licence deed, which is for 99 years. However, the 33-year period for Lalit Hotel had expired in 2014.

The five-star hotel currently pays Rs 12 lakh per month as license fees to the civic body.

The NDMC had in 2016 decided to review the license fees after after ascertaining the market value of the property and till then it was decided that the hotel authorities will pay Rs 4.4 crore per month. However, the hotel had moved the court seeking a stay till the time an appropriate fees is decided.

"We had hired SBI Caps which helped us conduct the Taj Mansingh auction, to review the license fees after determining market value. The financial advisor has submitted its report and suggested that an amount of Rs 97 crore should ideally be charged annually," a senior NDMC official said.

The report will be placed before the council once the model code of conduct is lifted and decision will be taken in this regard, the official said.