Chandigarh, September 11: The contractors, who constructed various sets of flats for the Progressive House Building Society, Sector 50, have claimed that the society’s previous management owed them money.

Referring to allegations by members of the Residents’ Sangharsh Saminiti that they had ‘pocketed money’, the contractors even asserted that the technical committee appointed by the society’s previous management, in its initial report, had given certain misleading facts, which were rectified by the same technical committee’s subsequent report.

The four contractors, Surindra Builders, Jatinder Mittal Engineers and Contrctors; M/s United Technocrats; M/s SS Builders, in a joint signed statement mentioned that till date the contractors were not even paid the total cost for construction of all those flats.

The statement furthers says , “Before beginning the construction work, we had entered into a legal agreement with the Progressive Cooperative House Building Society, which is binding on us as well as on the Managing Committee of the Society. In case of any dispute between the two parties relating to the work, there is a clause 52 providing for Settlement of Dispute and Arbitration, which is to be invoked in such cases.

However, it was never invoked by the managing committee, instead they have gone into mudslinging on baseless reports, just to deny contractors their due payments.”

“This clause can still be invoked and all the disputes pertaining to the construction of flats etc. can be settled by legal process of arbitration as inherent in contract,” the statement reads.

“It is clear that the whole episode is the result of infighting between two managements and it has nothing to do with the contractors.

“Both the contractors and society’s management should follow the legal clauses as per agreement,” the statement added.