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CBI books ex-disinvestment secretary Pradeep Baijal for cheating [India] [Times of India](Times of India Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) NEW DELHI: Twelve years after he superannuated, former chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and then disinvestment secretary Pradeep Baijal has been booked by the CBI for alleged cheating in the strategic sale of ITDC-owned Laxmi Vilas Palace hotel in Udaipur. The CBI, which had first registered a preliminary inquiry into the case, has alleged that the public-owned Laxmi Vilas Palace hotel spread over 29 acres with an estimated value of Rs 151 crore was sold to Bharat Hotels for 7.52 crore causing loss to the public exchequer. Baijal was the disinvestment secretary when the NDA government with Arun Shourie as the disinvestment minister and the-then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee heading the disinvestment commission took the decision to sell the Udaipur hotel as part of a policy decision to get rid of loss-making units. Apart from Baijal, those named in the FIR include Ashish Guha, the-then managing director of Lazard India, Kantilal Karamsey Vikamsey, owner of Kanti Karamsey and Co and authorized representative of Bharat Hotels, owned by Jyotsna Suri. CBI's move comes after its FIRs against retired bureaucrats - former coal secretary PC Parakh and former Sebi chairman CB Bhave - left the bureaucracy rattled, leading PM Narendra Modi, in his maiden interaction with top secretaries, to say that the bureaucracy will be buffered against the threat of being hauled up for decisions which they took with the right intent. The agency has registered a case of cheating against Baijal, a 1966 batch former IAS officer, and Bharat Hotels owned by Jyotsna Suri in connection with the disinvestment of the luxury hotel. Attempts to contact Shourie, who earlier this year criticized CBI's move to open 12-year-old case, were not successful on Thursday. CBI director Ranjit Sinha. Sanjay Bhoosreddy, secretary of the central IAS association, said they would assess the facts before charting the course of action. However, this is not Baijal's first encounter with CBI. The former Trai chairman was questioned for his role in the 2G spectrum allocation, particularly in the context of his taking up a job with Noesis, a PR firm promoted by corporate lobbyist Niira Radia who allegedly tried to influence spectrum allocation. He also had to step down as a chairman of the pipeline advisory committee under the ministry of petroleum because many said that his association with Radia who had Reliance Industries Limited as one of her clients, made it a case of conflict of interest. Baijal was also questioned by the joint parliamentary committee in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. In the hotel sale case, CBI's FIR has also mentioned unnamed government officers and private persons in the FIR registered under various IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating besides under the Prevention of Corruption Act. "It was alleged that during the period 2001-02, Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel, Udaipur, a heritage hotel and one of the units of Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), department of tourism ... with 54 rooms with all accessories was first drastically undervalued and then sold/disinvested to a private hotel situated at Barakhamba Road, New Delhi, at a price of Rs 7.52 crore," said a CBI officer. The officer said as per the then DLC rates of land in which the hotel was situated, its value was Rs 151 crore. The reserve price was set at Rs 6.12 crore. On February 5, 2002, the Cabinet committee on disinvestment had approved disinvestment of three ITDC-owned hotels-Qutab Hotel and Lodhi Hotel in New Delhi and Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel in Udaipur. Between 1996 and 2001 the occupancy of Laxmi Vilas Palace had reportedly come down from 41 per cent to 26 per cent and the hotel was facing heavy losses. The net profit margin reduced from 34 per cent to (-)51 per cent, leading to the government's decision of disinvestment. As part of the disinvestment policy during the NDA regime, several state-owned hotels were auctioned to private parties. (c) 2014 Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited |