The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Bank accused of collecting money as deposits for sites

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 11, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bank accused of collecting money as deposits for sites

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: The Citizens Rights Forum has charged the Richmond Road branch of a nationalised bank with collecting huge amounts as initial deposits for sites in two residential layouts in Kengeri and Suryanagar, which were yet to be formed or officially notified.

President of the Forum N. Nagaraju said the Karnataka Housing Board has said that banks are only authorised to collects fees for registration. But this bank was collecting amounts ranging between Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 80,000 for sites of different dimensions. Both the Housing Board and their official website have said no notification had yet been issues for payment of initial deposits.

The formal notification is to be issued only after a month and since then there was no need to pay any initial deposits, according to normal procedure.

In one specific instance, the bank concerned had collected Rs. 80,000 and later refunded it at the intervention of the Housing Board.

"Even after a notification is made by the Board, one or two months time is given to applicants to pay any initial deposit. The initial deposit does not earn any interest for the depositor. Further no preference is given to the depositors and the sites are allotted by draw of lots. In these circumstances, payment of an initial deposit will not benefit the depositor/ applicant and can only benefit the bank," Mr. Nagaraju said.

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