State Bank auctions wrong plot

Source  :Deepender Deswal, TNN Dec 29, 2011, 07.01AM IST




ROHTAK: In a strange case, the state bank of India (SBI) auctioned a plot of a senior citizen to recover the amount following default of repayment of loan taken by another person.


The owner of the auctioned plot had been running from pillar to post for the last six months but he failed to get any relief from the bank, the police or the court. His plot was auctioned on Tuesday on the orders of the debt recovery tribunal (DRT) in Chandigarh.


According to information, Jai Singh and Om Prakash had purchased plots measuring 107 square yard and 124 square yard respectively from one Malha Ram in 1980 in Rohtak. Jai Singh disposed off his plot to another person, Dharambir Singh in 1998.


The dispute began when Jai Singh allegedly furnished an old registry of the plot (which he had sold) as guarantee in bank for one Rajesh of Chiri village who had taken loan in 2004. Rajesh defaulted in payment of the loan and the bank started the process of auction of the said plot in February 2011.


The problem began when the bank earmarked the adjacent plot owned by Om Prakash instead of Jai Singh's plot for auction. Om Prakash was shocked to find a notice from the DRT, Chandigarh, pasted on the boundary wall of his plot. When he approached the bank officials and told them that they had "erred in serving notice" on him, they told him that they had identified the right plot for auction.


Om Prakash lodged a complaint with the police against Jai Singh alleging fraud and also wrote to the public grievances department of the SBI. But he got no relief from the police or the bank authorities and finally he filed a petition in a Rohtak court demanding stay on the auction.


The court however declined to stay the auction. He filed an appeal in the district court in Rohtak on Tuesday, but the DRT officials auctioned the plot the same day.


Stating that it was a fraud, Om Prakash alleged, "I suspect that the bank officials are hand-in-glove with Jai Singh and Rajesh who defaulted in loan repayment and I am being made to suffer for the misdeeds of the duo".


SBI's chief manager at Rohtak Hans Raj told TOI that they had earmarked the right plot for auction on the basis of location and dimensions mentioned in the documents regarding guarantee. "We have received the complaint and referred it to the higher authorities for further action," he added.