The report published in The Telegraph on May 30, 2011

Patna, June 9: The Bihar State Housing Board has served a final showcause notice on Aniket Housing Society committee, housing several present and former bureaucrats, after it did not reply to its first notice seeking explanation on alleged commercial use of residential premises.

The Telegraph had reported about the misuse of residential plots on May 30.

The first notice was issued to the housing society on April 26 for alleged violation of Section 78 of the Bihar State Housing Board Act, 1982. The final notice was issued on June 6.

Besides, all the commercial establishments running on 21 of the 24 plots (see chart) in the society have been served individual notices.

The board would take legal recourse on alleged offenders if proper replies were not furnished by June 11. The board is also working on calculating penalty for commercial use of residential plots. Sources said the housing board might also cancel the allotment of plots to the beneficiaries if proper replies were not furnished within the stipulated time.

Sprawling over 86.58 cottahs of land of the housing board, several present and former bureaucrats stay in the society, also known as IAS Colony, at Srikrishna Nagar. The land has been divided into 25 plots with a small garden at the centre. Shops, private nursing homes and mobile towers have come up on some of these plots.

Sources said the anomaly was brought to the notice of the housing board recently. Consequently, the board issued a notice (number 3,225) to Aniket Housing Society committee on April 26 for alleged violation of Section 78 of the Bihar State Housing Board Act, 1982.

According to the housing board sources, a reputed private clinic at the entrance of the Aniket Housing Society is operating on a residential plot.

Beside the clinic, The Telegraph found a restaurant-cum-hotel.

The others houses in the lane house corporate offices, animation studio, filament visual studio, retail dealer offices, kids’ school, girls’ hostel and guesthouses. There were mobile towers on the rooftop of two houses. Besides, banks, nursing homes, shops and public sector undertaking have come up in the houses facing the main road of Srikrishna Nagar.

Sources said the monthly rent of the restaurant-cum-hotel is Rs 1.10 lakh. The average monthly rent of a floor of a house in the colony varies between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000.

Some residents of the area complained of disturbance because of the commercial activities in the vicinity.

R.S. Tiwari, the secretary of the Aniket Housing Society, could not be contacted because he is out of town at present.