CITCO inquiry panel indicts front desk officials

CHANDIGARH: The two-member inquiry committee, which has been formed by the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) authorities to probe into the lapses on part of officials in the case of allowing two guests to stay at the Shivalikview Hotel for months altogether without paying the bills has indicted front desk officials for non-recovery of dues.

Shivalikview Hotel, where the two guests stayed without paying their bills.

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 8

The two-member inquiry committee, which has been formed by the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) authorities to probe into the lapses on part of officials in the case of allowing two guests to stay at the Shivalikview Hotel for months altogether without paying the bills has indicted front desk officials for non-recovery of dues.

“The committee has finalised the report and is likely to submit it on Friday to the higher authorities,” said sources.

In first of its kind case two guests Ashwani Kumar Chopra and Ramnik Bansal stayed at the hotel for months without paying bills of Rs 22 lakh.

When the guests did not pay the bills, the CITCO authorities filed a complaint against them in the police and detained their Audi and Chevrolet Cruze cars, parked at the hotel.

Taking a stern action while terminating the services of Shivalikview Hotel deputy general manager Sudhir Chawla, the CITCO formed an inquiry committee to find lapses in the entire episode.

During the inquiry it was found that standard operating procedures were not followed in this case and officials of the front desk did not close the account for long, the sources added.

Information regarding the arrears did not reach the Accounts Department. The whole matter was dealt at the front desk level of the hotel only.

Both Bansal and Chopra cleared all their dues upto July 15, 2018, and stopped making payments after that. Later on, Chopra gave three cheques to the hotel each of Rs 6 lakh on September 25, 26 and 27, however, all the cheques were dishonoured. When he failed to clear the dues even after assurance the hotel authorities approached the police and a daily dairy report (DDR) was lodged at the Sector 17 police station on October 12 in this connection.

Left with no other option the CITCO authorities allowed one guest Chopra to leave the hotel without paying his pending bill of around Rs 8.50 lakh.

Meanwhile, the CITCO authorities have started the process to file a case in the court against the guests and auction the two vehicles –Audi and a Chevrolet Cruze – to recover the amount of pending bills of the guests.