With the Central Bureau of Investigation registering a case in an alleged scam involving 400-acre land in Manesar and its two neighbouring villages last year and recently c >onducting raids at the residences of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda , the several hundred unit holders in various residential and commercial projects on the land in question have now lost all hope of an early resolution to the long-standing dispute.
Though there are several projects coming up on the said land and the matter is pending before the Supreme Court affecting a large number of buyers, around 2,000 people owning plots, flats and shops in a 104-acre project of ABW in the name of “ABW Aditya Niketan” at Sector M-1 Manesar are the worst affected with the work on the project yet to start almost seven years after its launch.
Ad-hoc committee member Naresh Jindal, who also owns a shop in the project, claim that 1,974 unit holders in the project have deposited more than Rs.800 crore to the developer since the project was launched in 2009, but the work on the project is yet to start. “There are three aspects to our case. First, the builder sold the project without proper approvals and collected the money. Though the developer had approval only for 790 plots, the company sold the flats and shops without proper zoning and building plans for it. Second, the farmers sold the land to the developer while the acquisition process for land was still on by filing false affidavits in the court that their land was free from all encumbrances and then approached the High Court saying that they were cheated. Third, the Haryana Government has now ordered a fresh CBI probe into the matter when the matter was likely to sorted out,” said Mr. Jindal.
The farmers had lost the case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2014, and the matter is now pending before the Supreme Court. Mr. Jindal said the farmers were expected to meet the same fate in the Supreme Court in view of the Noida Extension judgement when in spite of the matter being sub-judice the Haryana Government ordered a CBI enquiry in May last year taking a political but anti-masses decision. “On the one hand are 150-odd farmers who sold the land of their own volition and on the other are 3,000-odd people suffering for not fault of theirs. Why no action has been taken against the farmers for selling off their land when the acquisition process was still on? Instead of exploiting the matter to settle political scores, the government should spare a thought for the middle-class people who have invested all their life's savings in the project,” said Mr. Jindal.
Due to multiple claims and counter claims on the land and various litigations, the unit holders have been demanding that the 104-acre land be handed over to them under supervision of the Department of Town and Country Planning. Alternatively, they demandeed that the allottees be given alternate units in other projects. Their demands are due to their paying more than the value of the land along with the external development charges.
Assistant Town Planner, R.S Batth said that the developer selling the commercial units without zoning and building plans was a violation.
The matter came up before hearing at the Allottees Grievances Redressal Forum on Monday and the Additional Chief Secretary P. Raghavendra Rao has directed the developer to find amicable solution to the matter within a fortnight or face action.
Kapil, manager, ABW, told The Hindu that first the High Court and then the Supreme Court had put stay on the project and so it could not be initiated. He refused to comment on the allegations of developer selling the project without approvals.
