Corporation to waive rent of Kudumbashree Janakeeya Hotel

The Kochi Corporation will waive the rent dues of the 25-year-old Janakeeya Hotel operated by Kudumbashree members at Ponnurunni, thus eliminating the threat of its eviction following a notice issued by the revenue wing of the civic body demanding payment of dues and warning of eviction for non-compliance.

The issue was raised during the Corporation council meeting held on Monday. It has since emerged that the National Urban Livelihoods Mission authorities submitted a report clarifying that the hotel was classified as a Janakeeya Hotel and was, therefore, exempt from paying rent. According to the government order regarding Janakeeya Hotels, the local body concerned is responsible for covering the rent and water and electricity charges.

Mayor M. Anilkumar said eviction was out of the question and confirmed that the rent would be waived. He added that the council would take a favourable decision once the hotel operators submitted relevant documents to the finance committee.

According to the notice dated September 9, issued by the Corporation joint secretary, the hotel—located in the Corporation’s Ponnurunni Shopping Complex—owes ₹1.38 lakh in rent, including penal interest. The amount was calculated at ₹8 per sq. ft for the 1,069 sq. ft shop, covering the period from October 2022 to May 2023.

M.G. Aristotle, United Democratic Front Parliamentary Party secretary in the Corporation, noted that Kudumbashree members running the hotel were actually eligible for a refund of the rent they paid for the years since the hotel was classified as Janakeeya Hotel in 2020–21. Unaware of this exemption, Kudumbashree members continued to pay rent for a few years. They stopped paying rent only on being told about the exemption while approaching the Corporation seeking leeway over payment of rent.

“The revenue wing created a separate file for rent dues, unaware of an existing file that classified the hotel as a Janakeeya Hotel that exempted it from rent,” said Mr. Aristotle.

Reportedly, the revenue wing issued the notice after being pulled up for not collecting rent dues during the audit. Since the Kudumbashree hotel has been operational since 2000 and was only classified as a Janakeeya Hotel in 2020–21, the revenue wing likely continued to treat it as a tenant and maintained a file accordingly.

Initially managed by 10 Kudumbashree members, the hotel now comprises 12 members drawn from five neighbourhood groups.