NRC withdraws case against govt
KATHMANDU, JUN 24 -
In an unexpected turnaround, Nepal Recreation Centre (NRC) that had filed a case against the tourism ministry challenging its decision to scrap its operating licence withdrew the writ on Thursday.
NRC was forced to withdraw the case following huge pressure from trade unions of Casino Nepal.
NRC owner Rakesh Wadhwa’s representative Narendra Shrestha had filed the case in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Shrestha is also the finance controller of Casino Tara at Hyatt Regency Hotel.
On Thursday, around 20 trade union members of Casino Nepal pressured Shrestha and lawyers representing the NRC to withdraw the case, saying that they have not been paid for the last seven months. Following the pressure, Shrestha went to senior advocate Sushil Pant, who represented the NRC, and told him that he would withdraw the case. “The workers politely insisted us to withdraw the case,” said lawyer Bhimarjun Acharya.
The NRC owes Rs 340 million in royalties to the government and Rs 460 million to staff as salary in Casino Nepal alone. NRC’s another casino—Casino Anna—has to pay Rs 110 million in royalty dues to the government. It also has Rs 320 million additional dues to be paid as salary to its staffers and rental fees to hotels.
The government has already frozen NRC’s bank accounts and assets. NRC, in a letter to the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI), had earlier said hotels housing the casinos should own the responsibility of clearing the royalty dues. In the letter, NRC had said it would only clear other dues, but not royalty, according to the department.
In a bid to persuade the NRC to clear its dues, the DRI has also frozen bank accounts of two of its casinos—Casino Everest and Casino Tara—although they have already settled their dues. The NRC also said in its letter that the DRI can recover dues other than royalty from these casinos.
However, there are doubts on whether Wadhwa’s legal battle will be settled immediately. A lawyer representing him said they may file another case with another representative of Wadhwa. “Shrestha was only authorised to file the case against the government on behalf of the NRC, but not to withdraw the case,” the lawyer said, adding that the case could be filed again.
On June 16, the government had decided to scrap the operating licence of the NRC if it failed to clear its outstanding royalty dues within a week. The ministry, in a June 18 notice, gave the NRC a seven-day ultimatum to clear its dues. According to the notice, the NRC’s operating licence would be cancelled if it fails to clear the dues within the deadline. The government was forced to come up with such a stern decision following NRC’s repeated refusal to clear the dues.
A ministry official said Wadhwa might have withdrawn the case as he knew that the court verdict would not go in his favour.
Following the withdrawal of the case, it seems Wadhwa, who once enjoyed monopoly over Nepal’s multi-billion casino industry, is on the verge of losing control over his business. According to Casino Nepal sources, Malaysian company Star Management is keen to take over Casino Nepal. The same company is currently running casino Shangri-la at Hotel Shangri-la. “We are hopeful that the new management will pay the outstanding salary of the staffers after the NRC loses its licence of Casino Nepal,” said Amir Khadka, a union leader.
With Wadhwa on the run ever since the government initiated action against his company and not showing interest to pay the dues, the DRI had initiated the auction process for NRC’s property. NRC has around 3.5 ropanies of land and a house in Kalimati.
Source: Kantipur
In an unexpected turnaround, Nepal Recreation Centre (NRC) that had filed a case against the tourism ministry challenging its decision to scrap its operating licence withdrew the writ on Thursday.
NRC was forced to withdraw the case following huge pressure from trade unions of Casino Nepal.
NRC owner Rakesh Wadhwa’s representative Narendra Shrestha had filed the case in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Shrestha is also the finance controller of Casino Tara at Hyatt Regency Hotel.
On Thursday, around 20 trade union members of Casino Nepal pressured Shrestha and lawyers representing the NRC to withdraw the case, saying that they have not been paid for the last seven months. Following the pressure, Shrestha went to senior advocate Sushil Pant, who represented the NRC, and told him that he would withdraw the case. “The workers politely insisted us to withdraw the case,” said lawyer Bhimarjun Acharya.
The NRC owes Rs 340 million in royalties to the government and Rs 460 million to staff as salary in Casino Nepal alone. NRC’s another casino—Casino Anna—has to pay Rs 110 million in royalty dues to the government. It also has Rs 320 million additional dues to be paid as salary to its staffers and rental fees to hotels.
The government has already frozen NRC’s bank accounts and assets. NRC, in a letter to the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI), had earlier said hotels housing the casinos should own the responsibility of clearing the royalty dues. In the letter, NRC had said it would only clear other dues, but not royalty, according to the department.
In a bid to persuade the NRC to clear its dues, the DRI has also frozen bank accounts of two of its casinos—Casino Everest and Casino Tara—although they have already settled their dues. The NRC also said in its letter that the DRI can recover dues other than royalty from these casinos.
However, there are doubts on whether Wadhwa’s legal battle will be settled immediately. A lawyer representing him said they may file another case with another representative of Wadhwa. “Shrestha was only authorised to file the case against the government on behalf of the NRC, but not to withdraw the case,” the lawyer said, adding that the case could be filed again.
On June 16, the government had decided to scrap the operating licence of the NRC if it failed to clear its outstanding royalty dues within a week. The ministry, in a June 18 notice, gave the NRC a seven-day ultimatum to clear its dues. According to the notice, the NRC’s operating licence would be cancelled if it fails to clear the dues within the deadline. The government was forced to come up with such a stern decision following NRC’s repeated refusal to clear the dues.
A ministry official said Wadhwa might have withdrawn the case as he knew that the court verdict would not go in his favour.
Following the withdrawal of the case, it seems Wadhwa, who once enjoyed monopoly over Nepal’s multi-billion casino industry, is on the verge of losing control over his business. According to Casino Nepal sources, Malaysian company Star Management is keen to take over Casino Nepal. The same company is currently running casino Shangri-la at Hotel Shangri-la. “We are hopeful that the new management will pay the outstanding salary of the staffers after the NRC loses its licence of Casino Nepal,” said Amir Khadka, a union leader.
With Wadhwa on the run ever since the government initiated action against his company and not showing interest to pay the dues, the DRI had initiated the auction process for NRC’s property. NRC has around 3.5 ropanies of land and a house in Kalimati.
Source: Kantipur
