I had booked a P2B type house with Chhattisgarh Housing Board in Naya Raipur under their Rajdhani Pariyojna scheme. My application was registered in CHB’s office on 04.03.08 vide receipt no 38 .For this I deposited a DD for Rs 2, 39, 000/- which was 15% of the estimated cost of the said house ie Rs 15.93 Lakhs, last date for submission of form was 05.03.08
Response to the above scheme was poor, CHB issued another advertisement extending the date to 31.03.08 and lowering the estimated cost to Rs 14.86 Lakhs.
After about ten months, I received on a communication from Chhattisgarh Housing Board informing me that allotment of houses in Rajdhani Pariyojna will be made by draws at 11:00 am on 20.02.09.I attended the draw and house no 414 was allotted to me.
On 19/03/09 I received a letter no 3167 from Chhattisgarh Housing Board asking me to deposit Rs 3, 70, 900/ Rs 22, 800 (increased registration amount as percentage of revised cost of house ) -as 1st Instalment by 30.04.09 .This gave me a rude shock when I discovered that CHB had increased the cost of house from Rs 14.86 lakhs to 17.45 lakhs a steep hike of over 17% that to without construction of house.
The letter also asked the applicant to communicate in 15 days for non acceptability. I communicated to Chhattisgarh Housing Board vide letter dated 02/04/09 of my disapproval for increase in cost which in fact was already high, without any logic. This was in fact the time when there was a drop of more than 25 % in the housing sector of country’s economy.
The above increase was not only unjustified but it also violates Rule no 24 (a) of their regulations based on which the entire business was being conducted . (refer also to rule no 5 of the application form- For a hike above 10% Chhattisgarh Housing Board has to give interest on the deposited amount of the applicant at prevailing SBI rates.) Therefore in this case of refund the registration fees ie Rs 2, 39, 000/- calls for an interest of the prevailing SBI rates.
Since no justification was forthcoming from CHB, I expressed my anguish by withdrawing from the scheme.
Chhattisgarh Housing Board as per their letter no 7880 dated 30/07/09 have applied rule no 5 of Regulation & Rules while refunding the registration amount (deduction of 10%). This is incorrect as CHB has violated their own rule which clearly says that estimated cost can go up by upto 10% when construction of the house is completed. As against this provision CHB has hiked the cost by over 17% and that too without constructing the house.
The grievance therefore is as under :
1) CHB has wrongfully hiked the cost of the house and purposefully not made the increased cost public before or on lottery allotment of houses, ie lack of transparency,
2) CHB has wrongfully deducted Rs 23, 900/-from the registration amount.
Redressal
1) CHB should return the amount deducted and should also pay me the interest as per rule no 5 of application form on the entire money Rs 2, 39, 000/-I deposited with the application form.
2) CHB should reimburse to me the expenses I have incurred and may still incur in seeking redressal of my grievance.
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