Builder sued by Lanco Hills over fund diversion

Hyderabad: Members of the Lanco Hills Owners Welfare Association (LHOWA) at Manikonda have registered a complaint with the Raidurgam police station against the Lanco Hills Technology Park Private Limited (LHTPPL), its chairman, chief operating officer and seven others, alleging that they have misused the corpus fund to the tune of Rs 12 crore and diverted it to another welfare association which they created with malafide intention.

The LHTPPL has denied the allegation and said that the corpus fund is intact and not a single rupee has been misused.

P. Narotham Reddy, president, LHOWA said in the complaint that LHTPPL had collected money from all the flat owners towards the corpus fund which is meant for maintenance and other activities.

Meanwhile, the owners formed the LHOWA, got it registered with the government and had intimated the authorities of LHTPPL also. LHTPPL had approved LHOWA as an authorised body for the flat owners and there has been communication between both bodies on numerous occasions.

Being the authorised body, LHOWA had sought information regarding the details of the corpus fund collected and where it had been invested and how much interest had been generated on the amount.

“We have written to them on multiple occasions and sought information on these aspects, but never got a response. On a few occasions, the COO of LHTPPL Mr Venkatarami Reddy Simhadri met us and gave an oral assurance that the corpus will be transferred to the account of LHOWA, but that has not been done,” Mr Narotham said in the complaint. The residents allege that LHTPPL has floated a second welfare association - Lanco Hills Residential Owners Society (LHORS) - illegally, and transferred the corpus fund amount of `12 crore into its account.

“The members of LHORS do not own any flats in Lanco Hills and it was floated by the firm without any information or approval of the owners, violating the apartment act,” the complaint said.

Sources from LHTPPL counter that LHOWA is an illegal body and they have told its members to contest in the upcoming elections and use the fund for any activities as per the general or executive body decision.

“We have made this clear to them. There are no irregularities in the fund maintenance,” they said.

Inspector M Ram Babu of the Raidurgam police said that an inquiry is on and "based on the legal opinion and other evidences, we will proceed."