The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has announced that it owns the partially built and shambolic College Street market, 17 years after the civic body hired a builder to construct an seven-storey market complex after pulling down portions of the iconic old market building.
The civic body, which is putting up posters to assert its ownership of the property, had in January 2022 terminated the agreement with Bengal Shelter Housing Development Limited, the builder hired in 2006, which later defaulted on repaying a loan it had taken for the new building.
The National Company Law Tribunal’s Kolkata bench had in November 2022 “set aside” the decision of the KMC “terminating the Development Agreement and Supplemental Agreement and Power of Attorney” executed between Bengal Shelter and the KMC.
The KMC had appealed against the order before the principal bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal in New Delhi, which upheld the KMC’s decision in December 2023.
“...We are of the view that the Adjudicating Authority committed error in setting aside the termination order,” the appellate tribunal said in its order.
The adjudicating authority was the Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal.
The appellate tribunal and the tribunal are separate.
“The College Street market is owned by the KMC. This is proven by the order of the tribunal. We have put up posters so that no one should go into any agreement with Bengal Shelter as the market belongs to the KMC,” said Amiruddin (Bobby), the mayoral council member in charge of the KMC’s market department.
Samar Nag, the managing director of Bengal Shelter, told Metro over the phone that his company had nothing to say about the developments. “Whatever is happening is according to law. We are not involved in the proceedings. It is up to the committee of creditors to decide what action they would take next,” he said.
The committee of creditors is made up of members nominated by the creditors — the banks who provided credit to Bengal Shelter.
A visit to the market on Wednesday showed that the building spread over 4 acres (13 bighas) was nowhere near completion. The ground floor and the first floor have stores and shops and the floors above are lying unused. The walls had been plastered but there is no paint on the walls.
The exterior walls were without any paint. The way to the market was unplastered and there were multiple tin sheets covering many portions of the market.
The old market building had been pulled down barring its gate, which still stands. A KMC official said the gate was a heritage structure.
Subasish Deb, the secretary of College Street Market Byaboshayee Samity, said there were around 325 traders with shops in the market. Another 500, who were members ofthe Samity, sat around the market.
“There are multiple problems. There is no drainage. Every monsoon, the basement parking gets filled with water, which is drained out by installing pumps. The stagnant water becomes a site for mosquito breeding,” said Deb.
He said that many wholesalers who had shops in the old market had not found a place inside the new market.
Sources in the CMC said that after Bengal Shelter defaulted in repayment of the loan it had taken to develop the property, a consortium of banks from whom the loan was taken went for insolvency proceedings. The appellate tribunal’s order mentioned that the tribunal’s order asking the CMC to hand over the property to the insolvency resolution professional was wrong.
“Adjudicating Authority committed error in directing the Appellant to handover the possession of the premises to the Resolution Professional,” the appellate tribunal’s order says.