Narayan Rane's resort in Goa lands in trouble

PANAJI: Maharashtra Revenue Minister, Narayan Rane's family owned resort near Calangute beach in Goa is in the midst of a controversy with local Panchayat approaching High Court seeking to stall occupancy certificate issued to the project.

"The Panchayat Secretary on March 13, 2006 had issued occupancy certificate to the resort without taking a resolution and fabricating the Panchayat minute book," Calangute Sarpanch, Joseph Sequeira said on Friday.

Sequeira said they would also move to the state government against the panchayat secretary for issuing occupancy certificate to the resort.

"The hotel belongs to Narayan Rane's family and his son had met me over the project. When we found out that the occupancy certificate was issued fraudulently, the Panchayat decided to revoke it in a special meeting on March 24, 2008," Sequeira said.

The special meeting resolution reads: the minutes of the meeting (which reportedly gave occupancy certificate) stands cancelled and with that all the permissions, licenses, NOC and occupancy certificate issued on the basis of these minutes shall stand cancelled.

The resort management, when contacted, refused to comment on the issue. "I offer no comment... I would also prefer not to disclose the name of the Directors," General Manager, Neelam Hotels Pvt Ltd, Arvinder Chopra said.

The sarpanch confirmed that Rane's son is a member of the Board of Directors and has been a signatory on the sale-deed.