After nearly three decades of legal battles with the Oberoi Group, the state government has gained full ownership of the iconic colonial-era Wildflower Hall in Mashobra, Shimla, following a Himachal Pradesh High Court ruling on October 14.
The government will receive a total of Rs 401 crore from the property, including bank balances, arbitral award payments, and transfer of East India Hotels’ shareholding in the joint venture, marking a significant financial gain after years of no revenue from the resort.
With ownership secured, the government plans to invite global tenders for professional management of the resort to maximize revenue and preserve the heritage property, which once belonged to Lord Kitchener and later became a five-star Oberoi resort.
After nearly three decades of litigation, the Himachal Pradesh government can finally heave a sigh of relief as the legal battle over Wildflower Hall—an iconic colonial-era estate once home to Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army —comes to an end
Located amid towering, lush green cedars and serene mountain forests, the five-star luxury resort will now rightfully belong to the Himachal Pradesh government.
The government will get a whopping sum of Rs 401 crore from the property, which until now was in the hands of the Oberoi group, running it as a five-star resort as a joint venture company of M/s East India Hotel (EIH).
Named Mashobra Resort Limited (MRL), the venture will now be fully in the hands of the state government as its sole owner, a transition made possible after the Himachal Pradesh High Court decided in favour of the state government, marking the end of the legal battle on October 14.
“We have already taken physical control and possession of the property. It’s a huge moral victory. The state was losing crores annually while the Oberois were making huge profits, paying nothing to us,” said Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu.
The government, he said, had hired top lawyers to take control of the historic property of high tourism importance in the hills. It’s a vindication of the moral stand of Himachal Pradesh.
The Chief Minister said the government has invited global tenders to select a leading hotel chain to operate the prime tourism property professionally, ensuring optimal revenue generation and preservation of the asset.
“We are going to get a total amount of Rs. 401 crores from the Wildflower Hall property, thereby also establishing the State as the sole owner of the Company,” he informs.
State Advocate General Anoop Rattan said that, under the Chief Minister’s guidance, the government effectively pursued the case on solid legal grounds in both the High Court and the Supreme Court, securing full possession and ownership of the Wildflower Hall property for the State
The High Court, in its orders on October 14, has ordered that the State has become the sole owner of the bank balances, shareholdings, and 50 percent of the advance against capital of the Joint Venture Company (JVC).
As per the decision of the High Court, the bank balances of approximately Rs. 320 crores belonging to JVC will be transferred to the state government.
The Court has also mandated the payment of Rs. 25 crores to the state, in accordance with the arbitral award. The entire shareholding of East India Hotels (EIH) in the JVC will be transferred to the State for a sum of Rs. 13 crores.
Additionally, only 50 percent of the amount, i.e., Rs. 68 crores, will be returned to East India Hotel (EIH) instead of the advance against the capital of Rs. 136 crores deposited by EIH in the JVC.
He said that earlier, the state was not receiving any financial returns from this property, but now the state is yielding positive outcomes from the legal battle.
A favorite summer retreat of Lord Ripon, the Wildflower Hall initially remained as property of G.H.M. Batten, private secretary to Earl Lytton (1876–1880). Yet, its famous occupant was the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces, Lord Kitchener, who spent a considerable amount of money laying out the gardens and planting trees and flowers. Immediately upon his arrival at Shimla, Lord Kitchener secured a lease of the property from the then-owner, Lady Goldstein.
Robert Hotz and his wife purchased Wildflower Hall in 1909, following Lord Kitchener's return to England. In 1925, after demolishing the old house, Hotz erected a fine three-story hotel.
After Independence, the hotel was taken over by the Indian government and given to the Himachal government to run an agriculture school. The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation took over the Wildflower Hall Hotel in 1973 and continued to operate it until 1993. Tragically, a devastating fire on April 5, 1993, caused by an electrical short circuit, reduced the finest wooden structure, reducing it to ashes.
The state government, thereafter, looked for a partnership with some of the leading hotel chains to restore Wildflower Hall to develop it into a five-star luxury resort on a profit-sharing basis. The Oberoi Group—known for its heritage luxury hotels in the town—was chosen as a professional partner.
The partnership led to the creation of Mashobra Resorts Ltd., a joint venture with the Oberois Holding and the state, which retained equity and ownership of the land.
The Oberoi Group rebuilt the property in classic colonial style, reopening it in 2001 as “Wildflower Hall, An Oberoi Resort.”
However, soon problems arose over the control, profit-sharing, and lease terms. The government found that the Oberois had increased the value of the assets and reduced the state’s equity share to such a minimal level that the state government was receiving nothing from the venture. The government also suspected financial wrongdoing.
Following this, the state government led by Prem Kumar Dhumal decided to terminate its agreement with the Oberois group.
Dhumal once observed that, while other Oberoi ventures in Shimla (Oberoi Clarke and Cecil) were making profits, Wildflower Hall, however, had not made earnings. Is that a ploy to deprive the state government of its rightful benefits?
Following decades of litigation and arbitration, the Himachal Pradesh government has finally reclaimed Wildflower Hall—one of India's acclaimed mountain resorts, where colonial heritage and Himalayan grandeur blend with beauty and legal endurance.
