JIT, Local Bodies Dept told to pay Rs 6.94-lakh relief

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 23

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) and the Local Bodies Department to pay Rs6,94,127 as compensation to Jatinder Kaur, a resident of Bhai Ditt Singh Nagar.

The complainant, Jatinder Kaur, was struggling to get possession of an LIG flat allotted to her under the Bibi Bhani Complex scheme or refund of her payment. Thereafter, she approached the forum.

After that, the JIT failed to comply with the forum orders and it was charged with negligence in services.

In her complaint, Joginder said the committee constituted under State Memo No.6/45/05-3SS2/1670 dated 01/03/2006 had approved construction of LIG flats under the scheme and these were to be constructed on 51.5 acres at Guru Amar Dass Nagar.

To this effect, an offer was issued for seeking applications for LIG flats under the scheme.

In a response to the offer, she had applied for an LIG flat and JIT officials informed her that a lucky draw would be conducted on August 16, 2009, and it was drawn in favour of her. She was allotted a flat No. 28-A on the ground floor.

Thereafter, she made the payment and subsequently, after making the full payment, the complainant approached the JIT a number of times to get possession of the fully constructed and habitable flat as per the contract. However, she did not get the flat.

According to one of the clauses of the allotment letter, the construction and development work of the flat and complex surrounding it should have been completed within two and a half years of allotment i.e. up to July 2012. Thereafter, the allottee could get the possession. However, to date, the work on the flat is not completed yet. The flat and complex are not in a habitable condition.

The complainant said she had borrowed funds on interest to pay the cost of the flat and the JIT also charged 12 per cent P.A interest on the installments of the principal amount of the flat. She added that she paid heavy interest for installments.

After receiving a notice, JIT officials said the complaint was not maintainable in the present form and it was liable to be dismissed. They added that the complainant had not approached the forum with clean hands.

Consumer forum president Karnail Singh and member Jyotsna Thatai, after hearing the arguments from both sides, decided that “the JIT miserably failed to handover the possession of the flat to the complainant in the scheduled time. Hence, it has been directed to JIT and Local Bodies Department to pay the compensation with Rs 2.50 lakh for causing harassment to the complainant and Rs15,000 as litigation expenses”.