HC stays building of Akhilesh’s hotel

Proposed property in VIP zone

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s plans to enter the hospitality industry received a setback with the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court staying construction activity at the site of his proposed heritage hotel at Vikramaditya Marg, a high security zone in the state capital.

The court questioned state government agencies on how permission for hotel construction was given in the area and fixed September 5 for the next hearing on a public interest litigation ( PIL) which has raised security concerns.

A division bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Abdul Moin also ordered security for petitioner Shishir Chaturvedi who claimed that he was being threatened after he filed the PIL.

Mr Chaturvedi said, “I had filed a PIL in the case as this area comes under the high security zone where many prominent people reside and there can be security issues.”

The petitioner has also sought the quashing of an official order allowing change in land use, thereby permitting construction of hotel in the area. Mr Yadav along with his wife and MP Dimple Yadav had applied to the Lucknow Development Authority ( LDA) for approval of the map of their proposed hotel, Hibiscus Heritage, whose plot is located behind chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s official residence.

Since the plot comes

under a high- security zone, where buildings cannot be more than seven meters, NOCs from several civic agencies were required.

In 2003, when the same property was owned by another person, the then chief minister Mayawati had stopped construction of a multi- storey building on it citing security issues. According to documents, Mr Yadav and his wife had purchased the 23,872 square feet plot in 2005 at a cost of ` 39 lakh from Jwala Ramnath. The property is now worth crores.