Ashoka Yatri Niwas (AYN), another 558-room hotel being run by the public sector undertaking and located in the heart of the Capital, is already facing closure due to the same reason. The hotel's ad-hoc licence had expired way back in 1992.

The hotels have apparently been running without a valid permanent licence ever since they were built by the government in the early 80s. Samrat and AYN have, in fact, not even bothered to obtain completion certificates for their buildings, without which excise and trade licences are not granted.

The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) has refused to give a clean chit to the hotels as basic safety norms are not being complied with. None of the three hotels, for instance, has trained fire personnel on their staff, an important requirement for the safety and evacuation of guests during any eventuality. The above is one of the most basic formalities that need to be fulfilled before applying for a police licence, without which no hotel or restaurant is allowed to operate in the Capital. The management of AYN, Kanishka and Samrat has been ignoring repeated police warnings.

In his notices, served individually on the hotel authorities during the past week, DCP (licencing) Mohan Kudeisya has asked that all the relevant documents, along with a copy of the lease deed issued by the Union Ministry of Urban Affairs, be submitted with him within 30 days, failing which the hotels would not be allowed to operate.

Following the Uphaar tragedy in June last year, licencing authorities had tightened their grip on all public premises including hotels, restaurants, marriage and cinema halls. Many of them were closed down following surprise raids.

The authorities had, strangely, turned a blind eye to the irregularities at AYN, Kanishka and Samrat. ``The case exposes the government hypocrisy in implementing even the basic norms. While private hotels like Radisson and Park Royale have had to fight protracted legal battles before they were allowed to operate, ostensibly because they had deviated from the sanctioned building plans, hotels like AYN never bothered to get a completion certificate for the building,'' a senior licencing officer said today.

Several extensions have since been added to the original buildings of the hotels. They were formally reminded of their lapses by the Delhi Police licencing authorities in July 1995, June 1996 and then in December last year.

N.K. Khanna, resident manager of the Kanishka Hotel, when contacted for clarification today, expressed his ignorance about the notices, while the general manager Rajiv Makin and his counterpart in Samrat, Anil Malik, were not available for comment despite repeated attempts.