Sahara's Centaur deal gets a clean chit

LUCKNOW: Attorney General Soli Sorabjee, by giving a clean chit to the AL Batra group for the resale of Centaur Hotel in Mumbai to Sahara India group, has finally laid to rest all speculations and misunderstandings related to the deal.
It has also cleared the stand of Sahara India Pariwar.
Minister for disinvestment Arun Shourie in a written statement told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that the attorney general was of the opinion that the Batra group had not violated the terms of the transaction document by selling its share holding in Batra Hospitality (BHPL) to Sahara without seeking consent of the Hotel Corporation of India, the original owner of Centaur, Mumbai.
Sahara India Pariwar subsequently changed the name of the company (BHPL) to Sahara India Hospitality (SHPL).
Shourie told the House that according to the attorney general, BHPL was not obliged to obtain prior consent from the Hotel Corporation to sell its holdings and it had not violated the lease agreement signed with the Airport Authority of India.
The attorney general had also stated that the change in the name of a company did not effect its entity or its continuity as the same entity. The attorney general added that there was no need to cancel the sale agreements with BHPL as there was no evidence of any fraudulent conduct or illegality.
Shourie quoted the attorney general as saying, "It is a well established principle that a company is a body corporate distinct from its members. Transfer of the entire share holdings by the then shareholders of BHPL to Sahara India Pariwar does not in law amount to an assignment."