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Justice Goel said that the functioning of the hotels was a burden on the state exchequer as they had very little occupancy
The court termed these properties white elephants. (Photo: Shutterstock)
The Himachal High Court has ordered the closure of 18 state-run loss-making hotels to reduce the burden on the government exchequer.
Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, presiding over a single-judge bench, ordered that 18 Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC)-owned hotels should be shut down by November 25 and held the Managing Director (MD) of the corporation personally responsible for ensuring compliance.
The court termed these properties “white elephants”. Justice Goel in his order said that the continued functioning of these properties is a burden on the state exchequer as they had very little occupancy.
“The continuation of functioning of these properties…is nothing but a burden on the exchequer of the State and the court can take judicial notice of the fact that there is a financial crunch which is daily being propagated by the state in the matters being listed before the court involving finances,” the court said.
“In order to ensure that public resources are not wasted by the Tourism Development Corporation in the upkeep of these white elephants, it is hereby ordered that the following properties of the Tourism Development Corporation shall be closed forthwith w.e.f. 25.11.2024, as running of these properties is not financially viable as of now….,” it added.
Reacting to the High Court order Himachal Pradesh Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi said that if these hotels were not doing financially well, alternative steps could be taken.
“The HPTDC hotels were built at a time when the govt wanted to encourage tourism. Only after reading the court order, I can say what message we want to give by closing down these hotels. These are properties located at prime locations. If any of these properties are not doing well financially, then we should work on it,” Negi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The Minister also expressed worry over the potential loss of jobs to people working in the hotels.
(With agency inputs)
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