IT defaulter’s Vile Parle hotel to be auctioned

The Income Tax authority is all set to sell a hotel owned by top tax defaulter Late Uday M. Acharya, who has arrears of around Rs 779 crore. Acharya had shot to fame in the 1990s by duping small investors after promising them higher returns. The IT authority had recently held the third auction of Acharya’s VIP Palace Hotel in Vile Parle, wherein one Geeta Yadav had offered to buy the property.

Refraining from giving further information about Ms Yadav, officials informed that she has offered to buy the property for Rs 28 crore against the originally set price of Rs 27.43 crore. The authority has also issued a notice inviting people wishing to buy the property at a price higher than the one quoted by Ms Yadav.

According to reports, Acharya had floated a company called C.U. Marketing in the early 1990s promising high return to investors. He had duped around 20,000 investors of more than Rs 400 crore. The government authorities forfeited his assets and put them up for auction.

A senior official from the suburban collector’s office said, “We had put the property up for auction in 2014 and 2015, but no buyer seemed to be interested. This time, we found a buyer, Geeta Yadav. We cannot provide any more information on her.”

A document in possession of this paper shows Ms Yadav had proposed to buy the hotel for Rs 28 crore in July this year.

The document reads, “Under Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, 1999, properties owned by Mr Uday M. Acharya, seized during the hearing on July 29, 2016, Ms Geeta Yadav has sought permission in the Special Court to purchase the said property for Rs 28 crore. For auctioning the said property, the upset price fixed by the government is Rs 27.43 crore.”

Dr Sanjay Chaturvedi, executive editor if Accommodation Times, claimed that the price at which the property has gone for is too high. The current rate in Vile Parle area is around Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000 per square foot.