Consumer forum orders arrest of G Noida CEO in contempt case

GREATER NOIDA: The Gautam Budh Nagar district consumer dispute redressal forum has found the Greater Noida chief executive officer ‘guilty of delaying the execution of an order’ and has imposed a fine of ₹2,000 and one-month prison, read an order issued on Saturday

GREATER NOIDA: The Gautam Budh Nagar district consumer dispute redressal forum has found the Greater Noida chief executive officer ‘guilty of delaying the execution of an order’ and has imposed a fine of ₹2,000 and one-month prison, read an order issued on Saturday.

Consumer forum orders arrest of G Noida CEO in contempt case

However, the CEO has been given 15 days’ time to comply with the forum’s directions; otherwise, the forum will direct the police commissioner to implement the arrest order.

The matter pertains to not complying of an order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission issued on May 2, 2014, following a plea of a Delhi resident and petitioner Mahesh Mitra, who failed to get an industrial plot due to negligence of the Greater Noida authority CEO, said the detailed order delivered by Anil Kumar Pundir, chairman of Gautam Budh Nagar district consumer forum.

“In view of the facts and circumstances of the decree holder/execution matter, the CEO of the Greater Noida authority is found guilty of non-compliance of the order because he tried to delay the execution matter/order by hook or by crook. There is no alternative other than to try him under section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. Therefore, by virtue of the power conferred upon the forum under the aforementioned section, the CEO is subjected to imprisonment of one month and ₹2,000 fine,” reads the order.

A copy of the order is with the Hindustan Times.

The district consumer dispute redressal forum said that the arrest order must be issued against the CEO of the Greater Noida authority and a copy of the same along with the detailed order should be sent to the Gautam Budh Nagar police commissioner for compliance.

“The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission order of May 2, 2014, should be executed within 15 days. If it is not executed within 15 days, then the police can implement the arrest order,” the order stated.

In December 2000, Mahesh Mitra, a resident of Delhi’s Shastri Nagar, applied for a plot under a scheme launched by the Greater Noida authority.

“I applied for an industrial plot in a scheme that allotted land on a ‘first come first served’ basis. But I was not allotted the plot despite fulfilling all the terms and conditions and also depositing ₹20,000 in accordance with the scheme. Disappointed with the negligence of the authority, I filed a plea in the district consumer forum in December 2006. It directed the authority to allot me a plot. But the authority challenged the order in the state forum in 2007. In 2011, the matter reached the national consumer commission that gave an order in my favour, but the authority did not obey the order, forcing me to file a contempt case in the district forum in accordance with law,” said Mitra.

“The authority officials were negligent and offered me a bigger plot against my requirement of 500 square metres and harassed me,” Mitra added.

The Greater Noida authority said that the district forum issued the order without hearing them.

“We obeyed the national commission’s order and issued a provisional allotment letter on September 10, 2014, but the applicant did not accept the offer. In April 2018, the authority had informed the district forum about the same. Now, it has issued the order without hearing the authority’s argument. We will take appropriate legal action in this regard,” read a statement issued by the Greater Noida authority.