Faux pas leaves him ‘boothless’
By Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Sept 9 — The Estate Office of the Haryana Urban Development Authority, in a mix-up, issued a residential site in lieu of a booth to Mr Sat Pal Singla, a resident of Sector 10, after an auction for booths was held on April 4 last year.

Mr Singla is yet to get physical possession of the booth he had paid for, though the Estate Officer, Mr N.K. Singla, says that the formalities have been completed and Mr Sat Pal will be given possession in a day or two.

The discrepancy in allotment came to light only when the architect went to get the plan of the booth passed from the authorities. "When we went to take 'site possession', we were told that the allotment had been made for a residential plot and a booth could not be constructed at the site. Hence, the plan was rejected and I was asked to submit the original papers of allotment to the office,'' he explains.

Since then, it has been endless rounds of the Estate Office for Mr Sat Pal. He contends that he has written many letters to the office, asking them to make corrections and issue a booth allotment letter to him but all efforts have proved fruitless.

It has been over a year now and Mr Sat Pal is at his wits' end. "I'm required to pay a huge amount by way of interest to the office for making the payment in instalments and this pinches a great deal, especially when I have nothing in my hand,'' he says.

He has appealed that the interest of the amount paid may be remitted or waived till the actual possession of the site is given, while adding that either the possession be given to him immediately or the amount paid by him be refunded with interest.

The Estate Officer, Mr N.K. Singla, admits that the discrepancy had crept in at some level and efforts to rectify the mistake were on. "Mr Sat Pal will be given possession of the booth by tomorrow morning. Two people with the same name were to be allotted a site for residence and booth. The official concerned must have mixed up the two and the mistake was detected only when one of them came to take site possession.''