KoPT out to realise due rents

Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), the biggest land owner of the city, has embarked on a brave move to realise unpaid rents from the hundreds of tenants doing business on its real estate without payment for decades on end.

The move would stir the hornet's nest as KoPT insiders admitted that many of the errant tenants who have evaded rents for last 30 years and more citing legal grounds had powerful friends and protectors.

Sources in the port said rental income could more than double through this effort, making Kolkata Dock System (KDS) a very cash rich organisation.

"We hope to generate about Rs 100 crore rent a year as compared to Rs 40 crore collected now. This would significantly improve cash flow," a top port official disclosed.

The port has started sending notices to tenants who were not paying the rent under some pretext or the other. Though the source refused to disclose the exact number of errant tenants, it was expected to be a substantial number.

These tenants evaded rent by embroiling KoPT in a legal battle, ant then using the pretext to suspend payment of rent. Sadly, cases were pursued with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

In some cases, KoPT used to send eviction notices to these tenants asking them to vacate the premises after the term was over.

The tenants moved court challenging the order and arranged matters so that the cases dragged on for a long time without any progress being made. During this period, port did not receive any rent from them.

"Somebody came up with the argument that no rent bill can be sent. Even if true, the land owner can collect rent by way of compensation or damage bill. We have started doing that and notices are being sent to such tenants," the official added.

Surprisingly enough, nobody had acted on this issue so far and the status quo was maintained for decades.

It was only a few months ago that KoPT sent a team to Mumbai, which also has huge property, to study how that trust dealt with the issue.

"Tenant should not have got the relief of non-payment However, for some reason KoPT did not take action on the matter," a port insider said.

Sources said the involvement of a section of port officials could not be ruled out. The errant tenants would be only to happy if they found a way to help them evade rent.

KoPT would seek to collect the rent from present date and then start chasing payments in arrears. However, KoPT was yet to decide whether to charge the interest on arrears.

KoPT officials said they recognised the entire process would be an arduous task as it would upset vested interest in many quarters. "The road is fraught with challenges but we are on a legally strong wicket," the source pointed out.

If the actual collection rose to Rs 100 crore, KDS would have adequate cash to independently take up several pending expansion projects.