Shimla, April 1 — The Oberoi Group will continue managing the Wildflower Hall hotel for another three months under a fresh agreement with the Himachal Pradesh government, as the deadline to return the luxury property expired on March 31.
Officials confirmed that a consultant has been appointed to draft bidding documents for leasing the hotel. “The court has been informed of the agreement, which allows Oberoi to operate the property temporarily to prevent revenue losses until a new lessee is finalized,” a source said.
The legal battle over the five-star hotel, owned by East India Hotels (EIH), concluded after the Supreme Court upheld a Himachal Pradesh High Court order directing EIH to vacate the property by March 2025.
In November 2023, a single bench of the high court led by Justice Satyen Vaidya permitted the government to take over the hotel, but the order was stayed after EIH appealed, preventing state interference in its operations. A review petition filed by EIH was rejected on January 5, 2024, with instructions to vacate within two months. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling in February, granting EIH until March 2025 to surrender the hotel.
