For deficiency in service and causing harassment to a complainant, UT consumer forum has directed Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) to pay him Rs 50,000 as compensation, along with Rs 5,500 as costs of litigation.
Complainant Tarsem Singh, a resident of Sector 40-A, here, had alleged that he was allotted house number 911/1, Sector 40-A, Chandigarh, by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) on October 1, 1978, for which he had deposited the full and final payment in lump-sum. He was accordingly issued No Dues Certificate in November, 1979. In June, 2006, the complainant had applied for conversion from leasehold to freehold and submitted the required documents, along with a draft of Rs 2,870. Thereafter, he repeatedly visited the office of respondents and also submitted letters and reminders umpteen times to know the status of his application.
Then, he filed an RTI plea for his application and in its response, he received a letter in June, 2009, from the respondents, stating that the original application could not be traced. He later issued a legal notice, but to no avail. In their written reply, the respondents admitted that the original file with respect to house number 911/1, Sector 40-A, was missing from the record since 2006 and could not be traced despite best efforts. The forum in its order said, “It is very unfortunate that important records of title are not being properly maintained in the office of CHB and at the top of it, the respondents are taking no action against the officials responsible for maintaining the said records or causing the loss thereof.”
The forum directed CHB to issue letter of conversion within 30 days from the date of receipt of documents and also pay to the complainant Rs 50,000 as compensation, failing which it would pay the amount with interest of 12% per annum. CHB was also directed to pay Rs 5,500 to the complainant as costs of litigation. The forum said the respondents were free to recover the amount of Rs 50,000 and litigation costs of Rs 5,500 from their officials responsible for delaying the matter.
source: Times Of India