New Delhi, October 19, 2004
PTI
More than two decades after an NRI paid an earnest amount of Rs 10,000
to the Ministry of Urban Affairs for Land Allotment in the Capital,
a Delhi Consumer Court found the department guilty of deficiency in
service for delaying the refund of that money following the scrapping
of the scheme.
Noting that the department in 1978, had taken the earnest amount from
the complainant immediately after floating the scheme, the court said:
‘‘It was for the department to process the case for refund
of that money to the complainant soon after dropping the scheme in october
1983...’’
District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (New Delhi) president L.C.
Jain and Janak Juneja said the Land and Development Officer at the Ministry
of Urban Affiars and Employment should not have waited for complainant
Chander Kant Bhatia to make a formal request claiming refund.
Slamming the department for the inordinate delay, the court said: ‘‘Even
when the request was made by the complainant in 1994, it took the ministry
more than three years to refund the amount of Rs 10,000 which is clearly
a case of deficiency...’’
The court ordered the department to pay Bhatia nine per cent interest
on the earnest amount with effect from December 1, 1983, to October
23, 1997. It also ordered the payment of an additional amount of Rs
15,000 as litigation cost after finding there was nothing on record
to show the action taken by it to refund the amount. The Ministry had
argued that though Bhatia was asked to collect the amount in August
1994, she did not turn up.