HC directs Estate Officer, Haryana Shehari Vikas Pradhikaran,Sonepat, to consider claim for refund of earnest money deposited for allotment of plot

Read Order: VINOD KUMAR v. STATE OF HARYANA AND OTHERS

LE Correspondent

Chandigarh , October 1, 2021: In a case pertaining to the claim for refund of earnest money deposited for allotment of plot ,the Punjab and Haryana High Court has recently remanded the matter  back to the Estate Officer, Haryana Shehari Vikas Pradhikaran, Sonepat, to consider the claim of the petitioner for refund afresh in the light of the judgment of this Court in Rajesh Kumar and others vs. State of Haryana and others.

Herein, the petitioner was aggrieved of the order dated August 26,2020, whereby his claim for refund of the earnest money of Rs.50,000 that he had deposited for allotment of a plot under the oustee quota had been declined.

The Additional AG, Haryana, submitted that in somewhat similar situation this Court in a bunch of writ petitions including the one in Rajesh Kumar and others versus State of Haryana and others had directed refund.

It was also submitted that the case of the petitioner would also be considered in the light of judgment rendered by this Court in Rajesh Kumar’s case (supra).

The Division Bench of Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa and Justice Vivek Puri  set aside the impugned order dated August 26,2020, in the light of such fair stand taken.

Remanding the matter back to the Estate Officer, Haryana Shehari Vikas Pradhikaran, Sonepat to consider the claim of the petitioner for refund, the Bench also directed that an opportunity of hearing be granted to the petitioner and thereafter a reasoned speaking order with regard to the claim of the petitioner be passed.