A woman has accused the district administration of facilitating illegal transfer of her property to People For Animals, Uttarakhand. Dipika Agarwal said that she had bought the property at Chakrata Road in 2012 and has the registry and other documents to prove it.
A loan was also taken from the Union Bank for purchasing the property. “On September 6, my husband and staff locked this office and went home but found a different lock on returning there on Monday. We came to know that this property had been handed over by the district administration to PFA. On approaching the police to register an FIR we learnt that the action had been taken on the district magistrate’s order and that our possessions from the office had been deposited at the Kotwali. On asking the DM Chandresh Kumar about this, we were told that the city magistrate had issued the order and the DM had only ensured allotment of the property under the Rent Control Act. No summons were issued to me or my husband to enable us to put forth our case. We have been illegally evicted from our property and seek that it be restored to us,” she said.
PFA Uttarakhand member secretary Gauri Maulekhi said, “Rumours are being spread to discredit me and the organisation. Since PFA is a charitable organisation we had earlier requested the DM to allot an office space to us.
A three-room office at Chakrata Road was considered which was lying vacant for many years. Since this property comes under the Rent Control Act, the court has the power to allot it to anyone after giving each applicant due hearing.
We also pleaded our case before the court and finally the office was allotted to us, since as per rules of Act charitable organisations need to be given precedence. All this while the landlord was being sent reminders to come and plead his case also, but he did not show up. As per the procedure, a notice was also displayed on the property for one week to alert the landlord before allottment but the landlord did not bother to come to court. PFA Uttarakhand upholds the law in every situation and will take the legal recourse against anyone who spreads false information with an intention to discredit or blackmail the
organisation,” she said.