Bid for Kanchi Trust land

Leading property developer Shriram Properties has bid Rs 220 crore for 45.88 acres belonging to the Kanchi Trust, including a medical institute and a hospital, on the IT corridor on the outskirts of this city. Shriram Properties, which made the offer for the land and the Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Institute of Medical Sciences and Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara Hospital, informed the Madras High Court that it would furnish 10 per cent of the amount within 24 hours of its bid being confirmed and the balance within three months. In an affidavit, the firm's chief operating officer R Murugesan undertook to "develop and run a state-of-the-art hospital in collaboration with a reputed medical institution". The offer will be heard by the High Court today. In July last year, a Division Bench had permitted Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Petam Charitable Trust to sell the institute and hospital and fixed the price at Rs 185 crore. Earlier, a Single Judge had rejected the plea by the trust to sell the property. According to the trust, it had decided to sell the property as it had suffered heavy losses due to non-issuance of essentiality certificate. Stating that it had invested Rs 80 crore for establishing the medical college and borrowed another Rs 75 crore from banks, the Trust had decided to sell the property to clear its liabilities and had sought permission from the Court for this. The Single Judge had, however, turned down the plea, against which the Trust filed an appeal, which was allowed by the Division Bench