Even as the ED is conducting a probe into alleged irregularities in change of land use (CLU) approvals granted to real estate projects, nearly 30 promoters have been found defaulting on payment of government dues to the tune of over Rs 1,000 crore.Most of the defaulters pertain to projects approved by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).Official documents accessed by The Tribune revealed that the defaulters included Chandigarh Royale City Promoters Pvt Ltd and Indian Cooperative House Building Society (Jattvibetec City), whose projects are under the ED scanner.Last month, the ED had arrested Praveen Kansal and Neeraj Kansal, promoters of the Royale group — and builder Ajay Sehgal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged submission of fake consent letters for fraudulently obtaining the CLU for Indian Cooperative House Building Society — in two separate cases.The default amount — calculated till May 31 this year — pertains to pending payment on account of external development charges, licence fee and social infrastructure fee among other dues.“Instructions have been issued to stop further approvals to the projects under the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995,” said a senior government functionary in the Housing and Urban Development Department.Among the main defaulters, Bajwa Developers owes over Rs 500 crore alone, followed by Janta Land Promoters, which owes nearly Rs 152 crore. Mohali AAP MLA and one of the Janta Land promoters Kulwant Singh said there was a Supreme Court stay in the case. “I have served a notice on GMADA officials for showing me as a defaulter despite the court stay,” he said.He said the action was being taken on a case-to-case basis as the authority had been pushing the builders to clear the pending dues. In some cases, the builders had gone to court and action could not be initiated against them for the time being.The chairman of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India, Jagjit Singh Majha, said a number of builders had deposited the pending dues but these were yet to reflect in the official record as it was being updated.“The proceedings under the Negotiable Instruments Act initiated against the builders whose post-dated cheques were dishonoured have not been dropped despite the default amount being cleared,” he said.The Chief Administrator of GMADA, Sandeep Kumar, did not respond to calls.Another promoter, on condition of anonymity, accused GMADA of double standards. “Those who have deposited a major part of their dues are still waiting for the infrastructure to be developed by GMADA, while those who have large pending dues have been provided with roads and infrastructure,” he said.For the projects approved under the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995, GMADA’s internal communication reveals at least 13 builders owe over Rs 300 crore. These include Chandigarh Royale City Promoters Pvt Ltd (Rs 47 crore), Bajwa Developers (Rs 150 crore), Shiwalik Site Planners (Rs 36 crore). In the case of mega projects, at least seven promoters owe the government over Rs 700 crore. These include Bajwa Developers (Rs 377 crore), Janta Land Promoters (Rs 152 crore) and Sukhman Infrastructure (Rs 69 crore).