Mumbai civic body to auction Imperial Grand Palace hotel over Rs 41.52 crore in tax dues

The Mumbai Municipal Corporation has begun action against the city's big property tax defaulters. As part of this, the well-known Imperial Grand Palace hotel in Royal Palms, Aarey, has been put up for auction to recover unpaid tax. The hotel owes the civic body Rs 41.52 crore.

This is the first time since 1984 that the civic body has auctioned properties it seized to recover dues.

The civic body plans to recover a total of Rs 74.98 crore through the auction of three commercial properties. These include the Imperial Grand Palace hotel in Malad (Kurar). A property in Bandra is said to owe Rs 30.60 crore.

Imperial Grand Palace was once the biggest five-star hotel in the Royal Palms project. The property spreads over about 38,143 square metres and has 422 rooms. In its early days, the hotel was known for large and lavish events. After 2012, however, its operations almost stopped. The hotel has now been shut for a long time and is in a dilapidated state. The civic body says the last conference at the hotel was held in 2012.

According to civic officials, several notices were sent to the hotel's owners and meetings were held, asking them to clear the dues. The amount was still not paid. The property was then seized and the auction process began.

In February, the civic body had seized 12 properties to recover a total of Rs 269.62 crore. The owners of six of them later paid their dues. Legal proceedings are under way in the remaining cases.

Property tax is the civic body's main source of income. In the current financial year, up to March 31, it collected Rs 7,611 crore in property tax against a target of Rs 7,341 crore.