E-Paper
Ludhiana: Dyers’ body told to clear nearly ₹7crore lease dues to prisons department by June 30
Officials say PDA held jail land since 2011; dues recalculated with 12% penal interest after first grant release in 2020.
Members of the Punjab Dyers Association (PDA) have been directed to clear pending lease rent of nearly ₹6.97 crore to the prisons department within four months, with payment to be made in three installments on or before June 30.
The association has received a communication in this regard from the office of the additional director general of police (prisons).
The issue had been under deliberation for several years at multiple administrative levels and was also the subject of proceedings before the Punjab and Haryana high court.
The high court had directed the chief secretary to examine the matter. Subsequently, a meeting involving all concerned departments was convened, following which the present decision was taken. The revised dues include rent along with 12% penal interest for delayed payment. The amount has been calculated for the period from January 10, 2020 — when the first instalment of grant-in-aid was received — till February 28 this year. The prisons department had originally leased 32 acres of Central Jail, Ludhiana, land to the PDA in 2011 for 33 years — from August 26, 2011, to August 26, 2044 — for establishing a common effluent treatment plant (CETP) catering to dyeing units. In 2014, the leased area was reduced to 18 acres, 1 kanal and 19 marlas, and a revised lease deed was executed.
Under the lease conditions, the association was required to deposit rent in advance every quarter before the seventh day of the concerned month. A penal interest of 12% was applicable in case of delay.
Officials said the PDA failed to deposit rent regularly and
that total outstanding dues for earlier periods had exceeded ₹14 crore. The PDA maintained that it was constituted to establish and operate the CETP for the city’s dyeing industry cluster and that the project was dependent on financial assistance from the Centre and the state government, besides multiple regulatory clearances.
Association members said the project faced delays due to late sanction of grant-in-aid, changes in funding schemes and mandatory technological modifications. They added that in September 2013, the state had agreed to waive rent for one year.
A modified lease deed reflecting reduced land and rent was signed on March 3, 2014.
According to the association, the project was finally sanctioned by the Government of India in November 2019 following directions from the National Green Tribunal.
The first grant-in-aid was released in 2020, and the CETP became operational in June 2022 after completion of construction.
Seeking relief, the PDA had urged the chief secretary to adopt a lenient approach, arguing that the project serves a public purpose by aiding pollution control.
The association requested that rent liability be calculated only from June 2022, when the plant began functioning.
However, jail department officials maintained that the PDA had remained in possession of the land since 2011 and was liable to pay rent in accordance with the lease terms, irrespective of the plant’s operational status. They said repeated reminders were issued, including a legal notice by the superintendent of Central Jail, Ludhiana, on August 3, 2021, but no satisfactory response was received.
After detailed deliberations, authorities decided to divide the unpaid rent into two segments — Period A (up to December 2019, prior to release of grant-in-aid) and Period B (from January 2020 onwards).
Taking the association’s representation into account, dues for Period B were recalculated.
The revised liability of approximately ₹6.97 crore is now to be cleared in three instalments within four months.
