HC chides UT for not filing response

The scathing remarks were passed by Justice K Kannan while deciding a bunch of petitions filed by Chandigarh residents. The petitions challenged the increased price of properties demanded by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) from allottees.

“It is quite a matter of astonishment that even when the matter was taken up in 2010 for a case instituted in the late 1980s and early 1990s,the statement has not been made¿” the order reads. “When the various High Courts in India are reeling under pressure of a pendency situation of more than three-crore (cases) with the state being the major litigant,we have still not learnt our lessons.”

Further reproaching the conduct of the Administration,Justice Kannan ruled,“That the cases would get adjourned for more than ten years for the written statement of (the) Chandigarh Administration to dust the papers and keep awake a top official from slumber to instruct its counsel,is a sorry occurrence that does little credit to the Administration. All that was necessary was to bring to the court the necessary information justifying the increased price for the plots and constructions.”

“For all the while,even (in case of) persons who had been delivered possession,I am informed that other facilities did not come along and the property is in a state of disrepair. It is just not a case of (the) state Administration losing out revenue but a case of non-utilisation of valuable property for all these years that has an immediate effect of economic loss not only to the allotees but to the consumer public who could have obtained the value of the services if only the property had been put to use,” the order reads.

The petitioners were allotted the property under a self-financing scheme for construction of shops-cum-flats (SCF) in Sector 40. The property was offered at Rs 500 per square yard.

In an advertisement issued in 1983,the price for a SCF was worked out at Rs 8.5 lakh. But as merely three or four applications had applied for the ten units that were advertised,the CHB had revised the rates with a modified scheme.

The price was reduced from Rs 8.5 lakh to 5 lakh — an advertisement to this effect was issued on November 11,1983.

The construction of these shops was completed in September 1986 but formal letters of allotment were not issued until October 1989. At this point,the CHB demanded Rs 12.05 lakh per unit.

Subsequently,the owners had filed petitions against the CHB,which were allowed in 1991. But on an appeal filed by the CHB,a Division Bench of the High Court had directed impleadment of the Chandigarh Administration,which never filed its response.

On Wednesday,while dismissing the petitions,Justice Kannan directed the allottees to pay the increased price with six per cent interest — the Administration had demanded 18 per cent interest.

“The interest shall be computed only on components of

the increased cost of land. It shall not be computed on the ground rents since the property could not be put to use,” Justice Kannan ruled.