BENGALURU: A software engineer based in Tiptur of Tumakuru district had placed a bid for Rs 72 crore for a Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) corner site measuring 60x40 sqft. The market value of the site two years ago was just Rs 6 crore, making it an offer of 1,270% over the actual value, the highest ever in BDA’s history.
But BDA later cancelled the allotment as the bidder, TC Shashank Patel, failed to pay one-fourth of the amount within 72 hours as required. Patel claimed that he did not realise that his bid amount was for per square metre, and not the entire site. He has now flooded the Authority with RTI applications, demanding the Rs 4 lakh deposit he made to place the bid.
The site (Survey No. 276) in HSR Layout 4th Sector was finally allotted to another bidder for Rs 10.57 crore earlier this year, sources said. Five bidders for the site stood no chance because of Patel’s humongous quote.
Documents accessed by TNIE reveal that for the e-auction, which began on March 4, 2022, BDA had fixed a minimum bid price of Rs 1,50,000 per sqm for this site, which worked out to Rs 6 crore. “Patel had placed a bid for Rs 20,55,500 per sqm translating to Rs 72 crore. He started his bid at Rs 2,01,500 per sqm on March 4 and kept increasing it till it touched Rs 20,55,500 by March 9. Since it was an e-auction, the site automatically got allotted to him,” a source explained.
An Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) of Rs 4 lakh had to be paid for this site. EMD gets automatically refunded for unsuccessful bidders, while it gets adjusted towards the total amount for the successful bidder.
As per the Disbursement of Corner Site Act 1984, the successful bidder needs to pay 25% of the total amount within 72 hours and the remaining within 210 days with an interest of 18%.
Patel did not pay one-fourth of the amount within three days and the allotment got cancelled automatically and the EMD was forfeited. Another source said, “BDA is right in going by the rule book and there is no provision in the Act to refund the money.”
Those dealing with RTI applications said, “The bidder was harassing BDA officials, bombarding them with an RTI application every month, either in his name or that of his father or mother. He has filed over 20 RTI applications so far.”
Patel told TNIE, “I thought my final bid of over Rs 20.55 lakh was for the entire 60x40 site as I assumed BDA sites were cheap. The square metre calculation was not clear in the application. It is my hard earned money and I need my Rs 4 lakh back. That is why I am repeatedly sending RTI applications. BDA has not responded to any of them, except one and that was because I approached a senior officer. The next hearing with the RTI commissioner is on Tuesday.”