Company penalised Rs25,000 for delaying possession of flat

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 17

Having failed to deliver the possession of a flat even seven years after the scheduled date, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked the managing director (MD) and manager of Nitishree Infrastructure Ltd to pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 to the complainant. The forum has also directed the company to deliver the possession of the flat in two months.

In his complaint, Gurpreet Singh (24), a resident of Bashirpura, said that in 2010, he had purchased flat number G-2-004 at Shourya Greens from the original allottee Rakesh Kumar, who had already paid the entire price of Rs 19.89 lakh. He said as per the terms and conditions of the agreement in the allotment letter, the MD of Nitishree Infrastructure Ltd was to deliver the possession of the flat to the complainant before 2010, but he had not got it till date. The complainant said he had visited the office of the company a number of times, but the staff had been delaying the possession of the flat for one reason or the other.

He said that he had made the last representation to deliver him the flat which was received by the company office on June 19, 2014, after which he issued a notice and filed a case. The complainant alleged that he had suffered a heavy loss as he had purchased the flat for his use and occupation. He said he had been paying the rent for an accommodation where he was residing at Rs 12,000 per month.

The company officials replied to the notice, saying the complaint was non-maintainable as the flat had not been transferred in the name of Gurpreet Singh as per its records. They argued, “The complainant has also not deposited any re-transfer fees to the company. No NOC has been issued by us in favour of the complainant. No re-allotment letter has been issued with the endorsement of the company. The document produced by the complainant on record is a fictitious document and result of fraud and forgery. The complainant was required to produce the copy of the agreement, duly attested affidavits, indemnity bond and the transfer fees to be deposited in favour of the company. The flat was constructed and ready for delivery in the month of April 2011 but original allottee himself had failed to take the possession of the flat as he wanted to sell the flat in question to some other person.”

The forum observed, “No evidence had been produced on the file by the company and as such we cannot consider the documents produced by the complainant as forged and fabricated. The rear of the allotment letter mentions “First endorsement in the name of applicant Gurpreet Singh s/o Shri Jaswant Singh”. This endorsement, dated January 4, 2013, itself shows that the company had received the entire documents issued by the original allottee Rakesh Kumar to complainant Gurpreet Singh and then made the endorsement which is duly signed by the authorised signatory of the company with the stamp of the firm. Also, as the complainant wrote to the company on June 16, 2014, it replied to Gurpreet Singh that the possession will be given shortly. The company has also admitted that they have received all original papers and transfer papers of flat No. G-2-004 for transferring the flat in the name of Gurpreet Singh, which is also signed by the authorised signatory. So, deficiency in service as well as unfair trade practice on the part of the company is established.”

The forum president Karnail Singh and member Parminder Sharma have directed the company to deliver the possession of the flat within a period of two months and pay the compensation of Rs 25,000 for mentally harassing the complainant.