The family of the former princely state Burdwan and Standard Chartered Bank are believed to have been at loggerhead over the reported transfer of lease rights of the landmark edifice at 4 Netaji Subhas Road by the bank.
The Burdwan family owned the building, while the bank held the property on lease.
A top source in the Burdwan family said a representative of StanChart had informed the family the lease rights of the huge three-storied building at B B D Bag would be undergoing changes and the name of a city-based businessman was mentioned.
The source said, "Lease rights are not transferable and therefore the Standard Chartered move is illegal." The dispute was likely to snowball into a legal dispute if the bank was found to have violated the rights of the property owner in transferring the lease.
The transfer of lease rights of the building, which has been up for sale for quite some time, today created a stir on Lyons Range against the backdrop of the sharp fall of stock prices.
The stock brokers, some of whom have interests in real estate, were busy guessing the cost of the "transfer" deal. The price tag guesses verified widely, from Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) to Rs 32 crore (Rs 320 million).
It was learnt that some occupants and illegal stalls, which used to serve tea and snacks to stock brokers, were evicted following the reported "transfer of the lease rights."
A couple of years ago a jute baron evinced interest in taking over the building for Rs 7 crore (Rs 70 million). It had over 110,000 square feet of area most of it tenented.
The Burdwan family rejected the offer. Another jute industrialist increased the price by some lakhs but he later backtracked.
Standard Chartered Bank had set up a small office to house its numerous trading companies and managing agents at Dalhousie nearly a century ago.
Later, it took the building on a long term contract and transferred activities there in the 1890s. It eventually became the headquarters of the British bank's Asian operations. The agreement was renewed in the 1950s.
The offices which were housed in the buildings included Bharat Bhari Udyog, NJMC, Mackintosh and Textiles Corporation. Some of the tenants sub-leased their rights illegally.