JOIN USNorth Corp seeks govt's aid to settle dispute
With the North and South Delhi Municipal Corporations failing to arrive at an amicable solution about the division of assets, the North civic agency has now requested the city government to intervene in the matter.
Top officials of the North Corporation have written to the city government to fix a cut-off date for the division of financial and physical assets owned by the former MCD between the three civic bodies.
The action comes in light of the dispute between the North and South Corporations over the ownership of Civic Centre – the headquarter of the MCD.
“There needs to be a cut-off date, which will establish that all assets and liabilities from that date will be of a particular corporation. We have requested the city government to derive a formula that will settle the prevailing dispute forever,” said a senior North Corporation official.
“The South Corporation claims that Civic Centre was constructed by the unified MCD, therefore, they also have equal rights over the building. In that case, there are several properties owned by the South Corporation which are at prime location and are priceless,” the official added.
“The MCD owns acres of land behind Savitri Cinema in Greater Kailash. Tomorrow, if the South Corporation plans some projects on that land, will it share its revenue.”
Officials said the civic body has also suggested the city government to evaluate the net worth of all the properties of the former MCD and distribute the assets accordingly.
“Once evaluation is done, division should be done as per the valuation of the property. If any corporation has properties which have more net worth, the other corporatists should be accordingly compensated,” an official said.
After the trifurcation, the North Corporation has been headquartered at the Civic Centre, while the South Corporation is also operating from the building till the time they construct their own headquarter.
The North civic agency said it is the rightful owner of the 28-storey building as it falls in its limits. It has therefore claimed its rights over Rs 600 crore that the Income Tax department is supposed to pay against the property it has taken on lease at the building.
The North Corporation has earmarked Rs 600 crore as a part of revenue in their budgetary proposals for the next financial year (2013-14), which has been passed by the House.
It has also demanded the South civic body to pay a rent of Rs 137 crore for two years for occupying a portion of the property at the building.
While refusing to pay any rent, the South Corporation has questioned the ownership rights of the North civic body. In a written submission to it, the SDMC said, “They are equal owner in respect of the Civic Centre and therefore share of both the corporations in the building must be demarcated.”
South Corporation officials said the North civic agency was just given the administrative control of the building.