NRI property dispute complaints on the rise in Ludhiana
Tuesday, February 22, 2011http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ludhiana/NRI-property-dispute-complaints-on-the-rise-in-city/articleshow/7536128.cms
The district is witnessing an increase in NRI grievances related to property disputes. This year, the NRI police station has received 22 such complaints till now, of which 12 have been solved. One of the reasons why NRIs get entangled in property-related disputes is -- they reportedly do not verify facts before making a purchase.
According to the data provided by NRI police station, in 2010, about 273 complaints were filed by NRIs and most of these were of property disputes and some of forgery. Sources in the police department said not many cases of bigamy have been received -- just one case was registered in 2008.
Station house officer of NRI police station Kamaljeet Singh said, ''Mostly, NRIs complain about property matters. In 2008, we had registered five cases, and in 2009, eight. Of these four and seven, respectively, were related to property disputes. In 2010, just one case was registered and that, too, was of similar nature.'' ''We receive several complaints from NRIs every year and after verification, many of these are found to be incorrect. Some of these are solved through mutual settlement. Though NRI police station has been set up to cater to them, many are not aware about it. As a result, several lodge their complaints at other police stations,''he added.
The SHO said they received grievances through e-mails too and most of the complainants were settled in the US and Canada. The NRI police station was set up in 2008. It functions from the building of CRPC centre in the commissionerate office.
Awaiting Justice: One of the NRIs awaiting justice in a property dispute case is Manmohan Singh, 64. Settled in the United States of America, Manmohan said three years ago, he had purchased a land in Bhutta village of Ludhiana district through a property dealer. ''Initially, I paid Rs 3 lakh to the landowner. Later, I learnt that he had taken a bank loan on that land. Even the property dealer had concealed this fact and showed me fake documents. I then filed a suit in a court,'' he added. ''When I was told about the NRI police station, I filed a complaint there,'' he said. Lamenting the system here, he claimed, ''I am facing too many problems in getting justice.''
