In a surprise check of small flats carried out by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), around 900 houses were found either locked or occupied ‘illegally’. This is the second surprise check conducted by the housing board authorities, following unconfirmed complaints about the sale/transfer of flats by some of the allottees illegally.
In the first check by CHB, as many as 1,268 flats were found either ‘illegally’ occupied or locked. In the second survey, only 368 out of 1,268 flats were found retained by the original allottees. There were 636 flats found locked, 222 flats illegally occupied by others, while 38 allottees had denied information to the survey team.
According to the chief executive officer of CHB, Yashpal Garg, CHB carried out a survey of all the small flats after it had received inputs that the original allottees had given the flats to others. The report will be sent to the UT advisor and action will be taken accordingly, he added. Further, he said that, as per the norms, such flats cannot be sold, sub-let, transferred, or handed over to other individuals and that the board will recommend strict action.
According to the CHB survey, 222 housing units were found retained by ‘others’ of which 98 were found in Dhanas, 48 were retained by others in Sector 56 flats, 20 in Sector 38 west, and 12, 13 and 14 of those in Sector 49, Ramdarbar and Mauli Jagran, respectively, while 15 were found in Maloya.
Out of the 636 housing units found locked, 280 were in Dhanas flats, 70 in Maloya dwelling units, 60 and 61 in Sectors 56 and 38 west respectively, and 41, 46, and 47 were locked in Sector 49, Mauli Jagran and Maloya respectively and others. As many as 12 out of the 38 allottees who had sharing information were from Dhanas flats while one housing unit had been sealed by the board and three belonged to a government department.
During the survey, the flat occupants was required to establish his or her identity and be a family member of the allottee. A family member can include the allottee’s parents, siblings, spouse, son, daughter, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren.
During the first survey, 18,138 units were inspected by CHB. As per the previous inspection report of all the small flats, 895 of the flats were retained by ‘others’ who were not the original allottees, and 1,268 units were found locked by the team. Moreover, the team found that in 130 units, occupants denied giving information to the officials when specified questions were asked.
The report mentioned that around 15,627 were found to be original allottees of the total 18,138 that were surveyed.
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