Improvement Trust gets into legal tangle

LUDHIANA: The Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) has landed in yet another legal mess by way of a contempt petition before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum for non-compliance of an order made by the National Consumers Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) in favour of city resident Sham Singh, in a revision petition 862 of 2011 through which the LIT authorities were directed to deliver possession of a plot to the petitioner at the rate prevailing in 2006.

Kuldip Bhatia
Ludhiana, October 15

The Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) has landed in yet another legal mess by way of a contempt petition before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum for non-compliance of an order made by the National Consumers Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) in favour of city resident Sham Singh, in a revision petition 862 of 2011 through which the LIT authorities were directed to deliver possession of a plot to the petitioner at the rate prevailing in 2006.

The petitioner, having failed to get the title deed of the plot (no 66-F measuring 307 square yards in Maharishi Valmiki Nagar scheme) registered, after having paid all dues, getting ‘no dues certificate’ and the ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC), has now filed a contempt petition in the Court of Presiding Officer of the District Consumers Disputes Redressal Forum.

Complainant Sham Singh has made an appeal before the court that action be taken against the LIT authorities under Section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act for non-compliance of the order dated May 20, 2015, made by the NCDRC.

The relevant section of the Act provides for punishment, which shall not be less than one month but may extend to three years or with fine of not less than Rs 2,000 but which may extend to Rs 10,000, or both.

The court of the district forum has issued a notice of motion to the chairman and the executive officer of the Trust for the next date of hearing on November 15.

According to petitioner Sham Singh, the respondent Trust (LIT) had flatly refused to get the sale deed registered in his favour (vide its office memo no 7041 dated September 25).

In this regard, the LIT had written to the Chief Vigilance Officer, Local Government, Punjab, that a ban had been imposed on transfer or registration of sale deed of plots allotted under the LDP (locally displaced persons) category by the vigilance wing (through its letter CVO/2018/2927 dated August 26, 2018).

The Trust had sought directions and outcome of the ongoing vigilance probe into the allotment of LDP plots, if any, so as to be able to take further necessary action in this matter.

LIT executive officer HS Sandhu said since the vigilance wing of the Local Government had imposed a ban on the transfer of ownership or registration of sale deeds of certain plots allotted under the LDP category, which were the subject matter of a probe, “We shall place the factual position before the court and seek directions accordingly.”