More trouble seems headed towards Parsvnath, the developer of the multi-crore Filmcity project, as the UT Legal Remembrancer (LR) has stated in a report that there is “no such exigency of refund” of the initial deposit of Rs 47 crore. Parsvnath had demanded termination of ties with the Chandigarh Administration on the Filmcity project and sought a refund of deposit along with penal interest.

After the Central Vigilance Commission allowed the Chandigarh Administration to deal with the matter on its own, UT Adviser Pradip Mehra sought the LR’s opinion on the refund.

The two-page report, submitted on July 27, states: “The record shows that the development agreement came into being as the Chandigarh Administration was desirous of development of Multimedia-cum-Filmcity at Sarangpur on private sector participation basis, wherein the land was to be developed by the developer under a Develop-Build-Finance-Maintain-Operate methodology on a leasehold basis. The Administration did not issue any formal letter of allotment so it cannot be said that the developer was ever allotted any land”.

He further states: “As no lease agreement ever came into being and the entire process was carried out on a Develop-Building-Finance-Maintain-Operate basis under the Development Agreement, therefore, the developer’s request is to be seen in context of the development agreement. There is no specific clause in the development agreement, which deals with such exigency of refund”.

A senior UT Administration official said a committee shall be constituted to decide the fate of the refund.

But the LR has already stated his refusal to become a member of the committee. “It is evident from the file of the Administrative department that it intends to constitute a committee to deal with the developer’s request. Also, it has been proposed to include the LR as one of the member of the committee. Since the opinion in the present case is being given by the LR, it would not be appropriate to include the undersigned in the committee so as to have an unbiased and fair examination of the request,” the LR stated.