CHB freezes escrow account of Prideasia

“We took the step by invoking a provision in the agreement. We can now save the pending amount that is yet to be paid by the developer,” said a senior official of the UT Administration.

The agreement between the developer and the buyers of houses at Prideasia mentions that “all payments towards the consideration amount shall be paid in the name of Parsvnath-CHB Escrow Account No. 30184417088”.

“The account was being operated by the CHB and the developer at a State Bank of India branch in Chandigarh. With the account freezed,the developer can’t transfer any funds without CHB’s approval,” said another senior UT official.

According to sources,the Administration has raised several other objections regarding the planning and design of the project at the Rajiv Gandhi Information Technology Park. Also,the Parsvnath Developers Limited and the CHB could barely manage to sell around 10-15 per cent of the total 1,314 apartments and villas till December 2008.

According to the provisions of the agreement signed between the CHB and the developer in 2007,if the latter fails to pay the bid money within the stipulated period of three years,the CHB is free to charge a penal interest or can even forfeit the amount paid so far.

With the CHB decision coming before the lapse of three years,there is speculation that the move could be a fallout of the global meltdown and the rift between the Chandigarh Administration and Parsvnath over the Filmcity project,which is on the verge of being scrapped.

P K Jain,advisor to Parsavnath,said: “We don’t have any idea as to when and why the CHB freezed our escrow account. We have been following the terms of the agreement and have nothing more to pay to the CHB.”

The Prideasia project
Spread over 123 acres,the project is one-of-its-kind and is an integral part of the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park. Parsvnath Prideasia is a joint venture between Parsvnath and the Chandigarh Housing Board. The project has a saleable residential area of 38.5 lakh square feet,a commercial area of 2.7 lakh sq ft,besides a club,sports centre and a water sports complex on 2 lakh square feet. The project is being jointly marketed through the company and various banks and the amount is being collected in an Escrow account. While 30 per cent of the gross receipts from the residential segment are to go to the CHB,the rest is to go to the company. The sale-proceeds and other realisations from segments other than the residential area are to entirely go to the developer. The project initially remained in news for its exorbitant prices — one-room apartment for over Rs 52 lakh,two to five-bedroom apartments from Rs 1 crore to 3.5 crore and villas for over Rs 6 crore. It ran into rough weather owing to certain issues pertaining to the acquisition of land,as the Chandigarh-Baddi rail link has to pass through the project site,according to the Railways’ layout plan.