New Delhi, Jan 5 (IANS) Facing flak after allegations of foul play in the draw for over 5,000 vacant flats, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Monday denied the charges and said not a single flat would be allotted to an “undeserving candidate”.”We are confident of the process of draw of lots. As far as the draw is concerned, there is absolutely no possibility of any wrongdoing. We can assure you that no demand letter would be issued to any undeserving candidate,” DDA’s Housing Commissioner Asma Manzar told reporters here.

DDA had invited applications for 5,238 flats for which there were more than 566,000 applicants. The draw of lots took place Dec 16 last year after which several unsuccessful applicants alleged the draw was not fair.

Several media reports had also suggested that it was a scam and that several applicants had used forged documents.

“Screening of nearly 600,000 application forms in three months is impossible. We had made clear earlier that verification of documents would be done after the draw is completed. Before the draw, we scrutinised the forms on the basis of photographs, addresses and PAN cards,” Manzar said.

“The second round of scrutinisation will start now. Let the process be completed and I assure you that not a single undeserving candidate would get a flat,” she added.

Media reports had alleged that there were many irregularities in the information provided and discrepancies in the reserved category forms.

Refuting the charge, Manzar said: “We will take extra care in the case of reserved category candidates. We will first call them and verify their documents and then double check their documents with the issuing authorities,” she added.

“In the case of general category applicants, we will verify their address, PAN card details and photographs,” she said.

Manzar said they were ready to face “any investigation by any agency at any forum”.

“We are cooperating with the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing. Whatever information they seek, we are providing to them,” she added.

“It’s also a question of our image. The staff worked day and night for months for this scheme. In case some allotments are cancelled we have a waiting list of 200 candidates. During the last scheme too, 350 allotments were cancelled and we had taken action against them,” she added.

DDA spokesperson Neemo Dhar said: “If any one is found with fake documents, their allotment would be cancelled, the amount will be forfeited and an FIR registered against them.

“We will try to issue the demand letters to the genuine successful candidates by January end.”

She informed that this time, 130 forms were rejected for multiple applications by one person, 50 for giving invalid PAN card details and 1,633 forms due to duplicate applications from the same family.

She also rubbished reports that the DDA had 6,500 flats but held the draw for only 5,238 flats, saying: “These allegations are baseless”.

The DDA officials added that refund cheques of the unsuccessful applicants have been sent to them.