National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission: Justice V.K. Jain (Presiding Member), allowed a consumer complaint seeking a refund of money paid to book a residential flat in a construction project being carried out by the developer.
Complainant herein had booked a residential flat in a project started by the opposite party (OP) by paying a booking amount of approximately Rs 1 crore. As per the allotment letter dated 20-02-2015, possession of flat was to be delivered to the complainant by March 2015; though an additional grace period of six months was available to the OP which could be invoked in case the possession was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. However, the complainant was not given the possession even after almost 3.5 years.
The OP resisted this complaint on the ground that the delivery of possession got delayed as land on which project was to be developed was acquired by Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), and the said acquisition was challenged by landowners in Allahabad High Court. Further, the National Green Tribunal had prohibited the use of groundwater for construction purpose. Also, the supply of raw material and labour was disrupted due to strikes/agitation by the farmers whose land was acquired.
The Commission noted that the aforestated contentions had already been considered and rejected by it in its order dated 16-04-2019 in STUC Awasiya Grahak Kalyaan Association v. Supertech Ltd. (CC No. 2335 of 2017). In that case, this Commission had clearly held that it was for the OP to arrange water for construction purposes from alternative sources. Further, the land acquisition challenge had been decided by Allahabad High Court in October, 2011 itself and while the Supreme Court did uphold the said High Court’s judgment in appeal, no order was passed restraining builders (particularly the builders in YEIDA) from raising construction on the land. Moreover, the agreements with the complainant had been executed much later than the Allahabad High Court’s decision. Lastly, no direct evidence had been led by the OP to prove the dates on which farmers had actually prevented the construction work.
It was noted that the completed drawings were submitted by the OP on 15-02-2015 itself, which meant that the construction had been completed by that date but the requisite Completion Certificate/Occupancy Certificate had still not been issued.
Reliance was placed on the judgment in Pioneer Urban Land & Infrastructure Ltd. v. Govindan Raghavan, 2019 SCC OnLine SC 458 where it was held that complainants cannot be made to suffer and wait indefinitely for possession of the flat allotted to him, and is entitled to seek refund of the amount paid by him, along with compensation.
In view of the above, the complaint was allowed and OP was directed to refund the entire amount received from complainant, and also compensate them in the form of simple interest of 10 percent per annum from the date of each payment to the date of refund. OP was also directed to pay litigation costs of Rs 25,000 to the complainant.[Ajai Kumar v. Supertech Ltd., 2019 SCC OnLine NCDRC 63, Order dated 22-04-2019]
