Months after the controversial mega project Filmcity came to a grinding halt,the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has finally given clearance to the UT Administration to settle the financial matter with the developer. A deposit of Rs 47 crore by real-estate giant Parsvnath has been lying with the UT Administration since long. In a communiqué to the Chandigarh Administration last week,the CVC stated that bidding and allotment process is entirely a different subject,which the agency is inquiring into,but asked the UT Administration to decide whether it wants to refund the deposit to Parsvnath. The CVC has clarified that their inquiry is regarding the bidding and allotment process and not about refunding deposits. Thus,they have asked us to take a call on the issue. A decision in this effect will be taken very soon, said UT Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar. Filmcity is one of the five mega projects,including the Amusement-cum-Theme park,Medicity,Prideasia,which is being probed by the CVC. In December 2008,Parsvnath had shot off a letter to the UT Administration seeking a termination of ties and a refund of the deposit with penal interest. As the project was already under the CVC scanner,the UT Administration had forwarded the developers letter to the commission seeking clearance. The Administration had also referred the matter to its Standing Counsel Anupam Gupta. He is yet to submit his legal opinion on the issue. After that,the matter shall be discussed and decided accordingly, added another senior official of the UT Administration. The process started in January 2007,after the highest bidder Parsvnath Developers Limited was given 30 acres on a 99-year lease by the Administration. The Rs 191-crore project was supposed to take off by mid-2009. However,after nearly two years,the developer claimed that it was not provided with encumbrance-free land and sought termination of ties. Meanwhile,certain alleged discrepancies cropped up which were reported extensively by the media. The CVC,while acting as a court,appointed a Vigilance Commission and ordered a probe into the bidding and allotment of the controversial mega projects and work was stopped till further orders.
