Legal suit against Sonia Gandhi and PCC chief in Kerala for non-payment of dues
Thiruvananthapuram: The Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Development Studies (RGIDS) at Neyyar Dam is at the centre of a controversy over the alleged non-payment of dues to the constructing company, Heather Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.
It has filed a complaint with the subordinate judge’s court here against Congress president Sonia Gandhi, PCC chief V.M. Sudheeran, his predecessor Ramesh Chennithala and director Hidur Muhammed for non-payment of Rs 2.78-crore dues.
Heather, based at Sasthamangalam, has sent a legal notice asking Mrs. Gandhi or her authorized person to appear before the court by June 25.
Earlier in November last also, it had sent legal notices to Mrs Gandhi, Mr. Sudheeran, Mr. Chennithala and Mr. Muhammed. During the last weekend, the KPCC had held its two-day camp executive meeting at RGIDS, 30 km from Thiruvananthapuram.
The media was told that Mr. S. M. Rajeev, company chairman, was running from pillar to post to get the dues towards the construction of the 40, 000 sq ft building on a five-acre campus. Mrs Gandhi had launched the RGIDS on September 29, 2013 when Mr. Rajeev was also felicitated. His lawyer V. A. Baburaj told DC that the total expenditure for the construction was four times the dues of Rs 2.78 crore.
“Ever since the RGIDS construction was completed, my client has been knocking on all doors to get the dues. But nothing has happened so far which forced us to send a legal notice against the top leaders of the Congress,” said Mr Baburaj. The project was commissioned during Mr Chennithala’s tenure as KPCC president in 2005. Mr Chennithala later told reporters that there was a dispute over the payment which would be settled soon. In fact Mrs. Gandhi had asked the party to clear the dues after receiving a legal notice which went unheeded.
In New Delhi, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the suit was an “unwarranted and shoddy” attempt to involve the Congress president.
Noting that there was an ongoing dispute between the engineers who built the institute and the contractor who executed the work, Mr Surjewala said the contractor had filed a civil suit.
“The issue has been almost sorted out. Within 24 hours, KPCC leaders Chennithala, Sudheeran and all parties will sit together and settle the issue. There is neither any criminality involved nor any default of payment,” he added.
