RAIPUR: The Raipur consumer court has directed the Chhattisgarh Housing Board (CGHB) to accomplish within a year what it had depicted in its brochure to lure the customers ahead of the launching of lucrative housing project.
The Raipur district consumer dispute redressal forum also asked the Board to pay Rs 50,000 each as compensation to 10 residents of the Boriyakala Housing Board Colony who approached the court seeking what remains due to them from the CGHB even after 5-6 years of shifting in the colony.
“The Housing Board should construct clubhouse, health centre, central park, community centre, primary school and other utilities as displayed in their actual site plan and brochure of the residential colony within a year. And pay Rs 50000 as compensation for causing mental agony and harassment to each of the 10 applicants within a month”, the court said in its order.
The court cited that the dream of the residents of getting a colony with all essential amenities remains unfulfilled as they had purchased houses in the given colony based on what was shown in the brochure of the CGHB (Boriyakala) colony.
The court held the housing board guilty and penalised it for “deficiency of service and gross professional misconduct” for not delivering what was reflected in the site plan of the brochure.
The court stated that the board didn’t act promptly on the plea submitted earlier by the residents.
“To begin with, the court has provided us the much-needed relief. There are still many issues with the Housing Board remaining to be resolved. We will continue our fight seeking justice”, said Dr N K Nigam, president of the Greensville Boriyakala Residents Welfare Society.
Housing Board has also been asked to pay Rs 5,000 towards the cost of litigation.
However, the housing board officials countered that they are not legally bound to comply with what has been displayed in the brochure. “The architect displays the contents to beautify the brochure. And we spend whatever money the consumers pay to the Board. We will appeal against the consumer court order”, the executive engineer of the CGHB told the Express.