Winds of change sweep through Leading Hotels; CEO quits

n Ganguli says it’s time to respect one’s age n Day-to-day functioning to be controlled by promoters from Delhi

gerard de souza | OCTOBER 22, 2017, 07:38 PM IST

PANAJI
Leading Hotels Limited, the Shiv Jatia-owned company seeking to build a golf course and resort at Tiracol in Pernem has witnessed a change of guard with company officials confirming that the day-to-day running of the company will be controlled directly by promoters from Delhi.
Former Chief Executive Officer of the Shiv Kumar Jatia and Tapesh Kumar Goenka-owned Leading Hotels Limited (LHL) Sandip Ganguli has "moved on" at a time when the company has secured all its clearances has the bulk of its litigation behind it and construction is poised for take off.
Ganguli's decision to call it a day, has coincided with Deputy Collector Agnelo Fernandes pronouncing his order that the land in question in Tiracol was not tenanted and at a time when the company has once again secured an environmental clearance for the project this time from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
"We are in the process of distributing power. Earlier the entire project was being handled by one person. We do not want to repeat that. The promoters will now be directly heading the projects and they will be personally monitoring the various verticals," a company official who did not wish to be named as he was not authorised to speak on the matter told The Goan.
"In any case for a project of this nature, the major verticals would have to be handled from Delhi," the source added.
The restructured company now has various verticals including ‘Design and Construction'; ‘Land, legal, liaison and statute' and international marketing. Prior to this Sandip Ganguli used to handle the entire operation. No separate reason was afforded for the change in structure or whether there are plans to appoint a new CEO. Company officials said that Ganguli has moved on after a long stint on account of personal reasons which include his age as well as the need to spend time with his convalescing wife, and have dismissed as rumours the ‘talk' that he was asked to move on, on account of differences with the management.
Ganguli himself has said his departure was on account of a significant phase of the project being completed. "I completed 68 years (of age) as of this date. I guess this is a long time by corporate standards. I was waiting for vindication to happen after incorrect (tenancy) claims by people. Once the orders came out that's when I turned my attention to my family. There comes a time when one needs to respect one's age and turn your attention to things you could not do when one was working," Ganguli has said.
"I handed over charge to Tapesh Goenka one of the co-promoters in Delhi. It is best that somebody from Delhi takes full charge. It is their investment and their money. It is best to tackle their ownership directly. The joint managing director in the company to look after the day-to-day functioning," Ganguli told The Goan.
"I'm there as a well-wisher and I can be sounded out for any thoughts. Of course with passage of time things will move further. There is a good local team in Goa I've moved out of Goa about a month back," he added.
Besides Ganguli, Gerson Rebelo the Corporate Communications head of the company who was projected as the "Goan face of the company" too has decided to move on and in a post on social media has said that while he supports the project, the company had many enemies within.
"I am no longer associated on a full-time basis with Leading Hotels... however continue to believe that this project when implemented will re-position Goa's tourism image and catapult it to its deserved position," Rebelo said adding that one of the obstacles the company had to face was "internally cultivated renegades who financially dried the company and have recently got exposed." When contacted, he limited his response to the reason behind him moving on being "limited opportunities to implement the CSR plans of the company in the near future, most certainly not during the construction phase." Leading Hotels is co-owned by Shiv Kumar Jatia and Tapesh K Goenka while other members of BoD include Lalit Bhasin, Amritesh Jatia, Anita Thapar and Sudhir Vyas. According to filings with the Registrar of Companies, the company has an authorised capital of Rs 25 cr and paid up capital of Rs 20.9 crore.
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