New Delhi: A city consumer forum has asked
Delhi Development Authority to make public the names of
applicants for its future housing schemes in time before the
draw of lots, so that various banks accepting applications on
its behalf do not fail in forwarding them to it.
A bench of district consumer disputes redressal forum
headed by its president C K Chaturvedi gave this direction to
the DDA on a plea by applicant Birendra Bahadur Singh for its
2008 housing scheme, who had alleged that the HDFC Bank had
failed to forward his application to the housing body.
The forum also asked the HDFC Bank to pay Rs one lakh as
compensation to Singh, besides a litigation cost of Rs 10,000.
"We would like to suggest to DDA to make public the
applications received through various authorised banks so that
such cases are detected by applicants well before the draw of
lots," the bench, which also included members Meeru Mittal and
S R Choudhary, said.
The consumer forum directed that "copy of the order be
sent to Vice-chairman, DDA" and that its order should be
complied within 30 days.
The bench awarded the compensation to Singh, who had
submitted his application form for the DDA`s 2008 housing
scheme through HDFC Bank (then Centurian Bank) at Connaught
Place.
The bank, however, did not forward his application to
DDA, leading to exclusion of his name from the draw list.
"In the light of this, we award compensation of Rs
1,00,000 for loss of opportunity by the complainant (Singh) to
participate in the draw of DDA due to fault of HDFC Bank. We
also allow Rs 10,000 as litigation cost to the complainant
which will be paid by the bank," the bench said.
Ghaziabad resident Singh said he had availed bank`s
scheme for funding the registration fee worth Rs 1.50 lakh for
the housing scheme and, accordingly, he had submitted the
requisite cheque of Rs 5,700 as the interest on the DDA scheme
fee.
Singh said that later he came to know that his
application form was not forwarded to DDA and his name could
not be included in the draw for flats.
The bank accepted its failure in sending the form to DDA
along with registration fee and took the plea that the
signatures on Singh`s cheque did not tally.
The consumer forum, however, found that the bank had not
informed Singh about the same despite he being its account
holder.
Terming it an "open and shut case", the bench said, "In
our view, this is a clear that after-thought defence was
created to cover its (bank) mistake in not sending the form."
PTI
