Nagaland House, Kolkata: CMO confident of winning case

 Dimapur, Sep.22 (EMN):  The chief minister’s establishment has assured that the Nagaland government was pursuing redress for the case, and winning it, involving the lease agreement for the Nagaland commercial complex in Kolkata. The chief minister’s office (CMO) issued statement on Saturday iterating the turn of events that the government called in the outright a “mistake” and a “fraud.”

Referring to the concerns raised by the leader of opposition in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly on September 20, the CMO deemed it essential that the facts of the matter be brought to public domain as a tally for transparency.

The lease agreement signed in 1997 with M/S CEEPL is ‘bad in law and necessary corrective action needs to be taken to ensure that rights of government of Nagaland are protected,’ the CMO stated. With the matter being taken to Kolkata High Court by the CEEPL, the Nagaland government has already filed the counter affidavit, it stated. ‘…we are confident of winning the case and ensuring that the rightful rent is paid to government,’ the government stated.

The CMO gave a background to the case: The 1997 agreement was signed as a consequence of a decision taken in a Cabinet meeting on January 29 1997 to discuss the commercial complex at Kolkata. A Cabinet sub-committee was then formed to address the issue.

The committee had a meeting with S Ghosal of M/S Engineers Enterprise on February 17 1997 in Kolkata and agreed to the following conditions: The lease agreement has to be for 20 years according to the West Bengal Tenancy Act; the annual rent be fixed at Rs 60 lakh per annum; enhancement of rent will be in accordance with the Tenancy Act; M/S Engineers Enterprise will bear 50% of the cost of registration including stamp papers; M/S Engineers Enterprise requested that if the State Bank of India enhances rent, they would also agree to proportionate increase of rent; M/S Engineers Enterprise agreed to execute the lease directly with govt. of Nagaland and bear all expenses after paying Rs 60 lakh annual rent; the draft lease deed was approved by the state Cabinet on  December 6 1997 and subsequently the lease deed was signed on December 24 1997 by the then Chief Secretary AM Gokhale who also advised Advocate General, Nagaland in a letter dated December 24 1997 to withdraw all cases pending with M/S Engineers Enterprise in the Calcutta High Court. The lease was effective from January 1 1998 for a period of 20 years, which expired on January 1, 2018.

The terms and conditions of the December 24 1997 lease, which the CMO termed “heavily disadvantageous, unfair, unjust”:

Clause 2.1: The lease shall be for a period of twenty years with effect from the first day of January 1998 and on expiry after twenty years, the ‘lessor’ shall renew it for the second term on existing terms and conditions.

Clause-3: The lessee shall pay INR five lakh per month on or before the seventh day of every succeeding month.

Clause -4.7: To repairs and maintenance (painting /white washing, cement painting etc.) after every third year and replace capital equipment. The Lessee is permitted to deduct ‘the said amount’ from the monthly rent after 30 days of presentation of bills/estimate.

Clause -5.2: Allow Lessee to enjoy 1500 sq. ft space free of rent.

Clause- 5.3: Allow the lessee to use the premises for business purpose/sublet without any reference to the ‘lessor.’

Clause- 5.8: Allow the lessee to make alterations, extensions, etc.

Clause-5.10: Allow the lessee to use entire complex premises as collateral security to public financial institutes/agencies, and national banks.

“It is pertinent to note that the then Congress government was over eager to sign this agreement which amounted to selling the interests of the state. The Cabinet sub committee went to Kolkata to have a meeting and the agreement was also signed in Kolkata on 24th December 1997 on the eve of Christmas – which is a holiday in Nagaland. It is a matter of shame that such illegal acts were taken up on such an important day,” the CMO’s statement read.

The CMO clarified that the present Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was the PWD minister then but was not included in the Cabinet subcommittee. “In spite of this fact, the leader of opposition made the allegation in the assembly that Shri Neiphiu Rio was the Home minister in 1997 – which is incorrect and is a statement made with malafide intent. One wonders if the real target of leader of opposition is CEEPL or the present Chief Minister Rio.

The CMO called it ‘unfortunate’ that the opposition ‘tried to make this issue into a political issue when the interest of the state is involved.’ As was mentioned in the assembly, the statement read, the government of Nagaland is committed to protecting the interests of the state and will take all legal measures to ensure that M/S CEEPL pays the due rent and in case of default is evicted from the premises.

“A mistake was made in 1997 by signing an agreement which is not only one sided but is also unfair, unjust, illegal and unconstitutional. The agreement is based on West Bengal Tenancy Act which itself is not applicable to properties owned by state governments,” the CMO stated.

The scale of fraud committed through this Rent Agreement is appalling, the CMO declared. The CEEPL runs Nightingale Hospital in the premises which is a 100-bed super-specialty hospital; the daily rentals of just the room charge amounts to Rs 8 lakh at the rate of INR 8000 per day which is much more than the rent of Rs 5 lakh or Rs 7 lakh being paid by them, the CMO stated. “Further there are many other commercial establishments in the premises from which CEEPL is collecting rentals.”0

The statement read: ‘The state government is following up the case with utmost sincerity. CEEPL had filed the case on 14th February 2018 when the state was going through assembly elections. Case came up on hearing on 14th May 2018 when the interim orders with regard to payment of rentals at the rate Rs 7 lakh per month was passed by the high court. Counter affidavit has been filed in Kolkata High Court on 16th July 2018. The rentals at the rate of Rs 7 lakh have been accepted as per interim orders of the high court without any prejudice to rights of government of Nagaland to get the rental at INR 2.2 crore per month with effect from 1st January 2018.’

The CMo added: “It is indeed commendable that Chief Minister Shri Neiphiu Rio announced on the floor of the House that a joint parliamentary committee will be constituted to supervise the follow up action and to ensure that the interests of the state is protected. This is clear proof and evidence of the transparency being adopted by the government in the matter and the government should be congratulated and appreciated for this bold initiative.”