Atal Apartments: Earnest money refund for allottees

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, October 14

The first ever skyscraper residential complex, conceived by Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) in the 8.8 acre area in Shaheed Karnail Singh Nagar on Pakhowal Road here, has been given a quiet burial. With the state government giving a nod to the proposal for scrapping the project (due to financial non-viability), the LIT has set the process in motion to refund the earnest money of successful allottees with a nominal interest.

The LIT had adopted a resolution in August 2017, which stated that against payment of earnest money and instalments by 80 applicants, construction of 462 multi-storey flats was not viable. It was also mentioned in the resolution that as many as 26 cases had already been filed by the successful allottees in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Consumers Disputes Redressal Forum for delay in construction of the flats. Not only this, some of the allottees had lodged complaints with the Vigilance Department as well.

Seeking permission from the government to scrap the project in its present form, the resolution said it would be prudent to drop the scheme and refund earnest money deposited by the applicants for HIG and MIG flats.

Apparently due to the effect of demonetisation and recessionary trends in the real estate sector, the response from buyers/investors to the project was lukewarm. With a few buyers coming forward, and even some backing out after issue of allotment letter, the LIT was left with no other option but to scrap the project, said an LIT official.

The LIT Executive Officer, Jiwan Bansal, confirmed that the accounts branch was asked to provide details of earnest money deposited by successful allottees so that it could be refunded to them with four per cent interest.