SC orders status quo in Bharat Hotels-The LaLit licence dispute with NDMC

Bharat Hotels, the company behind The LaLit Suri Hospitality Group, secured temporary relief from the Supreme Court on Wednesday in its ongoing dispute with the New Delhi Municipal Council over the land housing The LaLit hotel in the national capital.

The apex court has issued notice to the civic body and directed both sides to maintain status quo on the termination of Bharat Hotels’ licence deed.

The matter reached the apex court after the Delhi High Court, in April, dealt a major blow to Bharat Hotels by reviving an NDMC demand of Rs 1,063.74 crore in licence fees and upholding the termination of the hotel’s licence agreement.


A division bench led by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela had ruled that Bharat Hotels was in “fundamental breach” of conditions laid down in the 1982 licence deed executed with the NDMC.

The court had upheld the municipal body’s decision to cancel the licence and directed the company to peacefully hand over possession of The LaLit premises to the NDMC within 90 days.

The High Court, while backing the civic body’s stand, observed that the violations cited by the NDMC were substantial enough to justify termination of the decades-old agreement governing the five-star property.