The Hardoi district administration has issued a warning to Satish Chandra Verma, BSP legislator from Mallawan, to either pay a bank Rs 26.70 lakh by July 30 or else his property would be auctioned.

Verma had taken the loan of Rs 10 lakh from Nagar Vikas Sahkari Bank in 1999. The administration sent him the notice after the Supreme Court upheld an order of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court directing the Hardoi administration to help the bank recover the loan.The current amount is the sum total of the loan, the interest and the amount the bank has spent in pursuing the case.

“After receiving the Supreme Court order through the bank officials, I have sent a notice to the legislator stating that if he fails to return the money by July 30, his property will be auctioned,” said Ram Swaroop Verma, Hardoi Tehsildar.

“I came to know about the Supreme Court order but there is no time frame within which I have to deposit the money. I have not received any notice from the district administration. But I will deposit the money,” said Verma.

On October 21, 1999, Verma took the loan from the bank in the name of his firm, Good Refractories Limited, which was associated with the brick-kiln business. After two years, the legislator stopped paying the bank. 

“When we did not receive any reply to our regular notices, we personally met the legislator but he refused to listen and misbehaved with us,” said Vijay Pal Verma, secretary of the bank.

The bank then moved the Registar of the Cooperative Societies for arbitration. The society called the legislator four times, but he never turned up.

... contd.