J-K: ACB registers FIR in Rs 1,000-cr loan default case, raids conducted

The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) on Saturday registered a case against the top officials of Jammu and Kashmir Cooperative Housing Corporation (JKCHC), including its former managing director, in a Rs 1,000 crore loan default case, officials said.

Searches were conducted after obtaining warrants from the court at the residential premises of JKCHCL chairman and MD Brij Bhushan Sharma, office premises of JKCHCL and of JK Housing and Tourism Society and Corporation being operated by Sharma, officials said.

A preliminary enquiry was registered on the basis of a complaint received from the general administrative department to look into the allegations of JKCHCL, which was registered in the year 1982 by the then registrar of Jammu and Kashmir cooperative societies to provide housing facilities to the public, they said.

It had defaulted in repayment of a loan amounting to Rs 40.63 crore raised from HUDCO. The Jammu and Kashmir administration was the guarantor and 70 per cent of the capital was owned by the government, officials said.

The complaint stated that in 2017, Rs 90 crore was outstanding against the corporation. HUDCO had blacklisted the government till liquidation of the outstanding loan and no further loan facilities were granted for execution of various projects in Jammu and Kashmir.

The enquiry further revealed that JKCHC availed around 27 loan facilities from HUDCO between 1991 and 2001 for the acquisition and development of lands for constructing housing colonies in Jammu and Kashmir, they said.

The prominent colonies are Kud Housing Colony, Davik Housing, Kalu Chak , Swarn Vihar, Tawi Vihar Housing Colony, Swarn Vihar and Peer Bagh Housing Colony.

JKCHCL defaulted in payment in the loan and as of 2020, approximately Rs 1,006 crore was outstanding for repayment to HUDCO, officials said.

The enquiry has also revealed that the chairman, managing directors and other officials who were at the helm of affairs in JKCHC had misappropriated loan amount to the tune of Rs 23.12 crore, they said.

It was found that there has been an illegal modification in the norms and bye-laws of JKCHCL and encroachment upon government and community land for the development of housing schemes which were later sold off for a profit, officials said.

Subsequently, an FIR was registered on the basis of the omissions and commissions disclosed during the enquiry on the part of former chairman and MD Brij Bhushan Sharma and other officials of the management of the JKCHC and unknown officials of the government, they said.