Chandigarh, Oct. 14 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has imposed costs of Rs.20 lakh on two Haryana authorities over an 18-year delay in providing basic infrastructure in a Gurugram locality, despite collecting external development charges (EDC) from developers. A bench of justices Vinod S Bhardwaj and Ravinder Malik directed the state to recover the amount from officials responsible for the delay. "The state shall ensure that the costs are recovered from the erring officials as per law, since the financial burden for inaction and laxity on the part of the officials cannot be passed onto the tax payers of the state," the bench said. The order came on petitions filed by Gurugram colonisers alleging that Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) had failed to initiate land acquisition for a major sectoral road despite collecting EDC since 2008. "It is deeply distressing to note that while colossal amounts towards external development charges (EDC) have been paid to and retained by the state since the year 2008, the ultimate consumers and bonafide home buyers have been deprived of basic infrastructure facilities for more than a decade," the court observed. The bench said administrative delays increased project costs, ultimately burdening homebuyers. Finding that authorities had still not provided timelines, the court directed them to submit an affidavit within four weeks specifying schedules for land acquisition, road construction and other amenities. It proposed costs of Rs.10 lakh each on the offices of the director general, town and country planning department, and HSVP, to be deposited in the Poor Patient Welfare Fund at PGIMER, Chandigarh. The chief secretary was also directed to submit details of similar orders issued over the past five years and the status of recoveries made from erring officials....