HUDA residents face ‘hefty, erroneous’ enhancement dues
Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 6
Girish Chaudhary (62) lives in a one-kanal house at Sector 3 of HUDA in Fatehabad. The sector was carved out of his and that of his brothers’ agricultural land 18 years ago.
The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) had paid landowners Rs 24 lakh per acre in compensation after factoring in enhancements awarded by the district court, and subsequently by the High Court and the Supreme Court. This means every landowner, including Chaudhary, had received Rs 3 lakh in compensation for one kanal. There are eight kanals in one acre.
As one of the allottees in Sector 3, Chaudhary has already paid more than Rs 20 lakh to HUDA on account of enhancement dues and cost of the plot. Now, a notice has been sent to for further payment of Rs 21 lakh towards more enhancement.
Vaneet Kumari, another resident, applied for a one-kanal plot in 2004 and the allotment price was little more than Rs 10 lakh. She paid 25 per cent of the amount in one month and two enhancements of a little more than Rs 2 lakh in the next few years.
By the time she built her house in 2010, the original cost of the plot — Rs 7.50 lakh — was still unpaid and had become Rs 13.25 lakh due to the compound interest of 15 per cent.
Three years ago, she managed to get a bank loan and paid the HUDA’s outstanding amount to avoid its further multiplication by the authority on daily basis.
While she was still in the process of paying her instalments to the bank, HUDA allegedly sent her a notice a few days ago, asking her to pay Rs 21 lakh more – the amount has since gone up to Rs 23.45 lakh with interest.
Girish Chaudhary and Vaneet Kumari are two examples from the hundreds of plot holders from Fatehabad and15 other districts of the state who have allegedly been asked by HUDA to pay hefty amounts towards enhancements and interest.
Residents allege that the calculations by HUDA are incorrect and imaginary amounts have been added to their accounts in back dates in the name of “amount less conveyed” and now they are being asked to pay it with compound interest of 15 per cent for two decades.
Baldev Bajaj, president, Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) in Fatehabad, said: “A delegation of the RWA had, on May 9, met HUDA Chief Administrator J Ganesan. We showed him that several entries of ‘amount less conveyed’ have been made against their names erroneously and 15 per cent compound interest was charged on it.”
He claimed accounts officers of HUDA admitted to mistakes and assured the delegation of rectifying the errors before May 15. “When we visited them on May 11, they said nothing could be done as ‘’one-time-settlement’’ scheme had been launched.”
The scheme provides for 40 per cent rebate if allottees pay the dues between May 15 and July 15.
Bajaj alleged that the HUDA’s attitude is discriminatory as errors in the accounts of residents of Sector 7, Sonepat, have been rectified to less than half the original calculations because some influential persons and bureaucrats have plots there, but the authority was reluctant to consider the cases in Fatehabad and other towns.
Residents of various sectors from 15 districts of the state have been up in arms in Panipat against “erroneous” enhancement notices by HUDA.
When contacted, Ganesan said, “Since the one-time settlement scheme has already started, the issues of errors in calculations will be taken up after July 15. I am on leave so I will have to confirm whether or not dues have been re-calculated in Sonepat.”
