The department does not have ownership rights of over 50 properties of the 70 which have been advertised for disinvestment.

The UP Paryatan Adhikari Karmachari Sangh has moved a writ petition in this regard at the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court on Friday. The case has been listed for next week. Incidentally, the department is all set to convene a meeting on Tuesday for final evaluation of its properties before formulating the guidelines for the tenders.

In its petition, the Sangh has mentioned that about 30 properties across the state stand on land belonging either to another department or a trust or is under litigation. For instance, the unit in Sarnath is in the name of Mahabaudhi Society, the tourist bungalow in Agra is on missionary land and the land of Hotel Gomti in Lucknow is under litigation. Similar situation prevails in case of other properties in Ayodhya, Varanasi, Agra, Narora and many such places.

The officials say there will be no problem for the properties that are in the name of other government departments. “The cabinet has clarified that as long as the unit is on government land, its ownership will not pose a problem,” said a senior official. To sort out the ownership of the rest, around 15 days ago, the officials had written to magistrates of the districts concerned to expedite the transfer of ownership.

The petition also points out the names of over two dozen properties, constructed with the Centre’s aid, for which a No Objection Certificate from the Centre is required before their disposal. Guesthouses or motels in Chitrakoot, Shikohabad, Chunar, Sardhana, Moradabad, Allahabad, Shravasti, Ayodhya, Ghazipur are some such examples.

Interestingly, the Centre has not yet issued any NOC. Letters were sent a fortnight ago and a senior official of the UP Tourism Department visited Delhi last week, but so far there has been no response from the Centre.

The officials admit that a clause has been added to the guidelines that any deal will be made only after getting NOC from the Centre.

The government had advertised for the disinvestment in October. Since then, two pre-bid conferences were held on January 30 and February 7 in Delhi and Lucknow. Working on the feedback from investors, the department changed the scheme to make it more more investor-friendly.