Allotment of Orient Cinema land restored

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, January 24

Putting all speculations to rest, the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) Chairman, Raman Balasubramanium, said today that the allottees of land for Orient Cinema had deposited a sum of Rs 1,75,25,000 towards the entire default amount, interest thereon and penalty. The allotment, which was cancelled earlier for non-payment of instalments and other dues, has been restored now under the ‘one-time settlement’ (OTS) scheme introduced by the Punjab Government on December 27, 2019, which would remain in force till March 31, 2020, he said.

The land earmarked for a cinema, with an area of 3,556 square yards, was sold in an open auction by LIT in 1999 for around Rs 1.08 crore. Subsequently, the then buyer had defaulted on payment of instalments, along with interest as per the terms and conditions of sale agreement and LIT had cancelled the allotment of land. However, no follow-up action was taken after the cancellation of land allotment.

The aggrieved members of the allottee’s family moved the court seeking relief and had also deposited part of the total outstanding amount on the directions of the court. It was in October 2019 that the next of kin of the original allottee made a plea to the LIT authorities as well as the state government to take a compassionate view and restore the allotment on payment of balance amount without any penal interest and penalty.

As LIT adopted a resolution to this effect and sent it to the state government for approval, questions were raised over the decision of the Trust for waiver of penalty and penal interest on a property sold in open auction, and one RK Garg had also filed a complaint to the government challenging the justification for the move which would have caused financial loss to the Trust.

The LIT Chairman maintained that the so-called anonymous complaint in this matter was a complete falsehood and motivated by his political opponents or was a handiwork of mafia of property dealers and other vested interests that he was fighting against. “The allotment of cinema land has been restored under the OTS scheme of the government on full payment of the outstanding amount, along with interest, penalty and restoration fee strictly as per rules,” he added.

Family had pleaded with Trust

The aggrieved members of the allottee’s family moved the court seeking relief and had also deposited part of the total outstanding amount on the directions of the court. It was in October 2019 that the next of kin of the original allottee made a plea to the LIT authorities as well as the state government to take a compassionate view and restore the allotment on payment of balance amount without any penal interest and penalty.

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