Landowners paid Rs 32.51 cr in excess due to tech glitch

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, July 18

In a major financial goof-up, the HSVP authorities have paid Rs 32.51 crore in excess to 326 landowners of Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat districts whose land had been acquired for the development of HSVP sectors.

As per sources, Rs 32.51 crore had to be paid to the 326 landowners. The HSVP authorities transferred the amount online to the bank accounts of 326 landowners by RTGS/NEFT through the Land Acquisition Office on May 27. However, due to some technical/software error, the transaction did not get registered. So, the HSVP authorities again transferred Rs 32.51 crore online on July 11.

Thus, the landowners whose land had been acquired got double the due amount credited to their bank accounts.

As soon as the authorities concerned realised the mistake, they got the bank accounts of the landowners frozen and initiated the process to recover the excess amount paid to them.

Talking to The Tribune today, Rohtak HSVP Administrator VS Hooda said the award and enhancement amount had been paid to the landowners twice due to software error.

“As of now, our immediate concern is to recover the excess amount paid to the landowners by mistake. For this, the authorities of the banks have been asked to deduct the excess amount from the landowners’ accounts after informing them of the matter and obtaining their consent,” he said.

He added that a probe would be conducted to fix the responsibility for the lapse.

Rohtak Land Acquisition Officer Nirmal Dahiya said that of the total excess amount of Rs 32.51 crore, Rs 16.5 crore has been recovered and efforts were being made to recover the remaining amount. She appealed to the landowners to give their consent to their banks to deduct the excess amount paid to them, failing which they could face income-tax issues as well.

Money transferred twice 

• Rs 32.51 crore had to be paid to the 326 landowners. 
• The HSVP authorities transferred the amount online to the bank accounts of 326 landowners on May 27.
• But due to some technical/software error, the transaction did not get registered. 
• So, the HSVP authorities again transferred Rs 32.51 crore online on July 11.