One more skeleton from the Taj cupboard

NEW DELHI, November 19: While the new management at the Indian Hotels is still coming to grips with various irregularities committed in the...

NEW DELHI, November 19: While the new management at the Indian Hotels is still coming to grips with various irregularities committed in the past, another scam has surfaced at its Mumbai flight kitchen operations. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formally launched a probe into the role of four senior officers — including V K Mathur, the former chairman of the International Airports Authority of India (IAAI) in helping the company avoid paying roughly Rs 2.5 crore of rent to the IAAI. The officers are suspected to have permitted the company to use IAAI land at the Mumbai airport, without the mandatory approval of the board of directors.

In its registration report, the investigating agency said the IAAI (now known as the Airports Authority of India after its amalgamation with the National Airports Authority) permitted Indian Hotels to use airport land without levying fees, thereby causing a loss of around Rs 2.5 crore to the government.

The probe into the alleged misconduct of IAAI officials is being conducted by the Anti-Corruption Unit-IV (ACU-IV) of CBI. It has already informed the Ministry of Civil Avaition and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) about the inquiry. Last week, the investigators visited the Mumbai office of the airports authority to take away relevant documents.

The report said that Indian Hotels approached IAAI in August 1991 for permission to use airport land to access its own plot of land (where they planned to set up a hotel) — the company was facing problems in accessing its flight kitchen unit due to congestion and encroachment. The IAAI officers, mostly from the commercial division, permitted the company to use 10,433 square metres of airport land as an accessway on March 12, 1992, without levying any fees and seeking approval from the board of directors. Under the delegation of powers, the IAAI board was the only competent authority to allow a private party to use airport land.

Bengaluru family feared dead in Kurnool bus fire

Cities3 hr ago

A family of four from Andhra Pradesh, residing in Bengaluru, are suspected to be among the 20 people reported dead in a fire that gutted a Hyderabad-Bengaluru bus near Kurnool in the early hours of Friday.

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