The Hindu             27.07.2013

Corporation to initiate action against rent defaulters in flower market

It appears that the Corporation did not get things right
at the new Flower Market. First it was the issue of finding shopkeepers
to let on rent the shops there and now it is evicting those shopkeepers
on charges of failing to pay the rent.

The
Corporation at Rs. 3 crore constructed 27 retail shops and 18 wholesale
shops along with an auction hall on Mettupalayam Road to enable flower
vendors carry on their business with ease. But for a long time the
Corporation was not able to let on rent the shops. People interested
would turn for auction but would not pay the required amount to confirm
the deal.

This time, though, the Corporation had
encountered a problem in that those who had taken on rent the shops had
paid the prescribed 12 months rent in advance as deposit but had not
cared to pay the rent for the subsequent months.

The
Corporation informed the Council on Wednesday last that the persons who
had taken on rent shops 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17 and in
Block I and shops 19, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 37, 41, 42 and 45
in Block II had not paid the rent. And had not occupied the shops,
either. And it planned to initiate action against those shopkeepers and
also call for fresh bids to those shops. Sources in the Corporation said
that the tenants had not paid rent for eight to 10 months.

Re-auction

This
was against the rules that allowed the Corporation to seal the shops if
the tenants had not paid the rent for two months and re-auction the
shops if the tenants had not paid the rent for six months.

The sources said that they suspected a cartel to be behind such actions.

The
cartel had earlier tried to force the Corporation to reduce the rent of
shops by preventing outsiders from taking on rent the shops.

The
Corporation had struggled with fixing rent for the shops in the market
and this came to the fore in December 2011 when members of the Finance
and Taxation Committee expressed anguish over the way the civic body
dealt with the issue.

The sources said that the
Corporation would adopt a wait and watch approach to see the response to
the next few tenders to let out the shops.

If it was
not encouraging, it would go ahead and throw open the flower market for
all kinds of businessmen and not just the flower vendors.