Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court imposed a ₹10 lakh penalty on Maha Hotels Projects Pvt Ltd. This was for filing a repetitive petition challenging the Trident Hotel’s insolvency process, despite the issue already being settled in court.
Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka, delivering the order, criticized Maha Hotels for wasting judicial time. He directed the company to deposit the fine in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. The court ruled that such unnecessary litigation must be curbed.
Maha Hotels had filed a fresh petition. It challenged the decision of the Committee of Creditors, led by the state tourism department, to approve the bid by BREP Asia II India Holding Company (Blackstone) for Golden Jubilee Hills Hotel under the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP).
The court clarified that Blackstone legally acquired the hotel through due process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). It was not through any discretionary allotment by the government. It held that since this was not a tender-based process, there was no scope for contesting it on those grounds.
The court also noted that Maha Hotels had earlier approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) over a contract breach and compensation claim, which is still pending. It ruled that all related disputes must be settled within that forum. Consequently, it dismissed the new petition as legally untenable.