New Delhi, Feb. 5 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday put under scrutiny the valuation of Delhi's Hyatt Regency Hotel in one-time settlement (OTS) deals between Asian Hotels (North) Pvt Ltd and two public sector banks, observing that it must be satisfied that the settlement was arrived at in a "clean and transparent manner" since public money was involved. "This money belongs to the people of the country.We understand the issue of commercial wisdom in such matters, but we have to see whether this commercial wisdom is in the interest of the people of the country or someone else," a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said while hearing a plea filed by NGO Infrastructure Watchdog. The court issued notice to the Union government, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) and Asian Hotels (North) Pvt Ltd, which owns the Hyatt Regency in Delhi, seeking their responses. The bench was hearing a challenge to a November 3, 2025 Delhi high court judgment that had dismissed a public interest litigation seeking a CBI and CVC probe into the OTS deals entered into by the two public sector banks with Asian Hotels. During the hearing, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the banks had bypassed the mandatory auction route despite the stressed loans exceeding Rs.100 crore. "There was no auction. The agreement was that we will enter into a one-time settlement," Bhushan, assisted by advocate Pranav Sachdeva, told the court. Responding on behalf of the Centre, additional solicitor general N Venkataraman submitted that the outstanding amount had been reduced from Rs.242 crore to Rs.226 crore and that the banks had recovered Rs.114 crore, pointing to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the hospitality sector. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi,, said the hotel had been declared a non-performing asset (NPA) and had no room bookings during the pandemic....