Reacting to the allegation by T.R. Zeliang, leader of opposition that chief minister Neiphiu Rio was home minister during 1997 when the lease agreement for Nagaland house commercial complex Kolkata was renewed, media cell of CMO has issued a clarification to place the facts.
Media Cell of CMO clarified that chief minister Neiphiu Rio was the PWD minister and not home minister during that period when a cabinet sub-committee was constituted to sign the lease agreement. The CMO further clarified that though Neiphiu was then PWD minister, he was not included in the cabinet sub-committee to negotiate and sign the lease agreement.
The reaction to T.R. Zeliang was over his statement that was published in the media, imputing that, Neiphiu Rio was the home minister when the lease for the Nagaland commercial complex was renewed. The state guest houses come under home department.
CMO said despite this fact, the leader of opposition T.R. Zeliang made the incorrect statement on the floor of the house “with malafide intent.” CMO wondered whether Zeliang’s target was Civil Engineers Enterprise Pvt. Ltd (promoted by Shyamalendu Ghosal former engineer under Nagaland PWD, who bagged the construction work for the Nagaland House Commercial Complex and his partner, the son of a top south Indian bureaucrat during 1979-82). (The construction and lease for the Nagaland House Commercial Complex was initiated during 1979 and signed in 1982 during the NNDP government tenure).
CMO blamed the then Congress government in 1997 for having signed a “one-sided” agreement that was “unfair, unjust, illegal and unconstitutional”. It said the flawed agreement was based on the West Bengal Tenancy Act which was not applicable to properties owned by state governments. The 1997 agreement was as per the decision of the cabinet sub-committee and draft made by the then advocate general and signed by then chief secretary A.M. Gokhale.
As per the renewed 1997 lease agreement, the state was to be paid only Rs.7 lakh per month whereas CEEPL earned Rs.8 lakhs daily from the 100-bedded Super Speciality Hospital (Nightingale).
After end of the 20-year lease agreement period, CMO said chief minister Neiphiu Rio asked the home department to review the rental to Rs.2.2 crore a month as per prevalent market rate for the locality in Kolkata. However, it said , CEEPL went to court on February 14,2018.The government has filed a counter affidavit on July 16,2018 in order to restore the rights of the state over its legally owned premises that was mortgaged through one-sided lease agreements, first to Engineers Enterprises Ltd and then Civil Engineers Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
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