Laxmi Vilas Palace, which was allegedly sold by the Vajpayee government to a private company at a throwaway price in 2002, has been taken over by the Udaipur district administration.

The authorities have taken possession of the luxury hotel from Bharat Hotels Ltd and put up a state government board outside.Earlier in the day, the Jodhpur CBI court directed the district administration to take over the hotel and file a report within three days.The Vajpayee government's disinvestment ministry, led by Arun Shourie at the time, sold Laxmi Vilas Palace in 2002 to Bharat Hotels Ltd for only Rs 7.5 crore.

The CBI investigation has found that the deal caused a loss of Rs 244 crore to the exchequer as the hotel.Hearing the matter on Thursday, the CBI court quashed the disinvestment and ordered registration of FIR against then-disinvestment minister Arun Shourie; former bureaucrat Pradeep Baijal; Ashish Guha, the managing director of Lazard India Ltd who was the financial adviser; valuer Kantilal Karamsey of Kantilal Karamsey - Company; and Jyotsana Suri, director of Bharat Hotels Ltd.Petitioner celebrates victory after 18-year-long battle The Jodhpur court order has brought celebration at Ambalal Nayak's house.

A former employee of Laxmi Vilas Palace, Ambalal Nayak has been fighting against the sale of the hotel at a cheap price since 2002.Terming the disinvestment process corrupt, he took the matter to court.

Nayak claimed that the government property was undervalued at the time of sale to the Bharat Hotels Ltd.

The matter was not taken up by any court for several years, but Nayak did not lose hope.After 18 years, his struggle has yielded results as the government has once again taken Laxmi Vilas Palace in its possession.The state government has put up its board outside the property and an evaluation of its movable and immovable assets is underway.History of the case The palace was sold to the private hotel group in 2002 by the Vajpayee government, but the subsequent UPA governments did not take any action against the deal.

In 2014, the CBI received Nayak's complaint and started investigating.

Later, the CBI tried to file a closure report twice in this case, but the CBI court did not allow it.

The CBI court was rebuked and directed to re-investigate the case.

The last order in this regard was issued in August 2019.

During its third investigation, the CBI submitted that there was a major discrepancy between the value of the hotel and the amount at which it was sold by the government.