Chandigarh: Consumer commission asks real estate firm to refund Rs 52.74L to army officer for failing to deliver possession of apartment

As demanded by the builder, he had paid Rs 52,74,424 for the period of January 15, 2015 to June 22, 2016, and as per Clause 14(d) of the agreement. The builder committed to deliver possession of the unit in question within a period of 36 months from the date of execution of agreement or within extended period of six months. However, they failed to deliver the possession in promised time and eventually halted the project. Realising that there was no ray of hope, the complainant represented the builder firm by way of e-mails and finally served a legal notice in May 2018 to refund the whole amount along with interest, but to no avail.

Sushma Buildtech Limited in reply submitted that the complainant is not a consumer as he purchased the unit for speculation, defaulted in making payment, and his allotment stood cancelled in terms of the Buyer Agreement after due opportunity to clear the outstanding dues.

As non-timely payment of installments hamper the smooth progress of project and result in delay of construction of unit as well as project as a whole, so after providing numerous opportunities to complainant, they cancelled the allotment and found it fit to forfeit the amount as per agreed terms and conditions of the buyer agreement.

The Commission after hearing arguments held, “The contention by the Sushma Buildtech Limited that the Complainant is not a ‘consumer’, as he had purchased the unit in question solely for speculation and he does not fall within the definition of word ‘consumer’, does not hold force, due to the fact that the Opposite Parties could not place any evidence to this effect to prove that the Complainant is not a consumer.”

The Commission thus ordered Sushma Buildtech to refund the amount of Rs 52,74,424 to the complainant, along with interest at 12 per cent per annum from the respective dates of deposit, and to pay compensation of Rs 50,000.