Buyer entitled to refund if possession of flat delayed

Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 26

Non-delivery of possession of plots/units in a housing project in the promised date is a material violation on part of a builder. In these circumstances, the allottee is well within his/her right to seek refund of the amount paid.

Stating this, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, has directed a builder to refund Rs33,56,900 to a consumer. The Commission has also directed the realtor to pay Rs50,000 as compensation to the complainant on account of mental agony, physical harassment and litigation.

Seema Arora, a resident of Karnal, approached the commission through advocate NS Jagdeva after the builder failed to deliver the possession of flats within the stipulated period as envisaged in the Flat Buyers’ Agreement and also refused to refund the amount. Seema said she booked the flat in year 2011 in a project named ‘Court Yard” TDI City, Sector 110, Mohali, SAS Nagar, Punjab. The flat was proposed to be delivered by the opposite party (builder) within 24 months as envisaged in condition number 9 of the agreement dated January 1, 2012, for want of construction and development activities.

The complainant said she paid Rs33,56,900 to the builder for the period from May 8, 2011 to February 2, 2015, towards purchase of flat against total sale consideration of Rs36,76,300. The possession of the unit in question was not offered and delivered by January 22, 2014 i.e. within a total period of 24 months.

She alleged that despite this, the opposite parties (builder) kept on sending letters to pay the remaining amount, under the threat of cancellation of allotment of the flat. She stated that despite the fact that delay was on part of the opposite parties, they demanded illegal charges such as escalation cost and delayed interest.

The builder denied all allegations and claims of the consumer. After hearing the arguments, the Commission held the builder guilty of deficiency in service for delay in handing over the possession of the flat. The Commission directed the builder to refund Rs33,56,900 to the complainant, along with interest @12 per cent per annum from the respective dates of deposit onwards, without deducting any TDS, within a period of 30 days. The Commission also directed the realtor to pay Rs50,000 towards compensation for causing mental agony and harassment and cost of litigation.

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