RTI clears anomaly in payment account of TNHB allottee

[ganpat1956]

As Reported by G Saravanan in The New Indian Express(02 Aug 2008)

CHENNAI: A senior citizen’s relentless fight against fraudulent accounting by Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) has made the government agency accept its lapse and render justice to him, at last.

It was the Right To Information (RTI) Act that helped the 76-year-old K M Thomas to detect wrong accounting by the TNHB while calculating the payments for the purchase of a flat in KK Nagar. He was literally hounded by frequent reminder letters to pay the arrears or face the consequences.

I am relieved now, Thomas told this website’s newspaper, when asked about his reaction to his long-drawn battle against the callous TNHB officials.

“Do you think transfer of people can be a valid excuse for accounting errors or omissions (in government agency),” asked Thomas.

In one of the payment reminders sent to him (in February this year), TNHB’s K K Nagar division had stated that Thomas kept an arrear amount of Rs 25,044, to be paid towards the low-income-group (LIG) flat, allotted to him at Kalinga Colony, K K Nagar, in the year 1966. When it was allotted, the total cost of the flat was fixed at Rs 22,350.

Though Thomas made the payments against the flat he had bought from the TNHB by the year 1983, he was asked to pay Rs 25,044 as balance for getting the sale deed. In fact, the discrepancy in TNHB’s account happened when Thomas defaulted payment of a few instalments immediately after his wife’s death.

Fearing that the TNHB would take action for failing to remit penal interest for defaulting, Thomas had paid Rs 12,000 towards settlement for the sale deed.

Since the TNHB’s accounting did not match with his own payment accounts, Thomas approached the K K Nagar office several times, but in vain.

With no other option left, he demanded all payment details through an RTI application. Then the officials woke up from their slumber and revised the arrears due as only Rs 4,500 against the earlier demand of Rs 25,044.

In a detailed letter dated June 24, S Sundarkumar, manager, sales, TNHB, apologised for the lapses and came forward to hand over the sale deed to Thomas.

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