After 137 Years of Operations, Gulmarg’s Iconic Nedous Hotel Served Eviction Notice

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has served an eviction notice to the famed Nedous Hotel in Gulmarg, ordering it to vacate nearly 98 kanals of government land it has occupied without a valid lease since 1985.

The Estates Officer, Gulmarg, vested with powers under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1988, issued the order in compliance with directions from both the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and the Supreme Court of India. The District Magistrate, Baramulla, has been asked to deploy a magistrate and adequate police to ensure the peaceful execution of the eviction and maintain public order.

The notice states that the premises, “presently in unauthorised occupation,” must be vacated “forthwith” and handed over to the Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA). Officials say the sealing of the hotel will follow shortly.

Nedous Hotel, established in 1888 by European entrepreneur Michael Adam Nedou after he popularised Gulmarg as a hill station for colonial-era visitors, is considered the first modern hotel in Kashmir’s history. Over generations, the Nedou family became linked to Kashmir’s political elite. The hotel founder’s daughter was Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s wife, the famous Begum Akbar Jehan. The family-run hospitality business is now owned by Omar K Nedou, a relative of the current Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

The dispute over the Gulmarg property dates back decades. The hotel’s last lease, for just 2 kanals and 13 marlas, was renewed in 1963 for 20 years, expiring on 31 December 1985. The government refused to renew it, citing violations and encroachment on an additional 91 kanals of land. Despite eviction orders issued in 2015, legal challenges kept the case tied up in court.

In 2018, a Division Bench of the High Court, led by then Chief Justice Gita Mittal, found that no rent had been paid since 1990 and declared the hotel an unauthorised occupant. The court stressed that renewal of a government lease was “a privilege, not a right” and that public property could not be retained without a transparent, competitive process. The court also cited the hotel’s massive overreach beyond its original allotment.

Following the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the hotel’s appeal, the Tourism Department, earlier this year, empowered the Assistant Director Tourism, Gulmarg, to act as Estates Officer for all tourism properties in Baramulla, Kupwara, and Bandipora, clearing the way for enforcement.

Officials say the move is part of a broader crackdown on unauthorised commercial exploitation of prime government land in Gulmarg, an ecologically fragile and strategically sensitive tourist destination. Once the eviction is executed, the property will be taken over by the GDA, and any future use will have to follow the Jammu and Kashmir Land Grants Rules, 2022, which require a fresh public auction for all such properties.