Panchkula: ‘We want our money back, it’s our hard-earned money’

On November 16, 2011, following their petition, the consumer forum had sternly reproached the builders for unfair trade practice and directed them to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for harassment and deficiency in service within 30 days of the order. But not a penny was released by the builders.

Frustrated and exasperated, the couple filed a petition before the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission earlier this month, along with nine other petitioners who have also been harassed by the builders, which also includes his advocate Satywan Ahlwat.

“Humein pata hai, humein paise nai milega (We know we will not get our money back). There is no end to our struggle. We might even have to approach the Supreme Court. But we will fight till the end and not let the builders go scot-free,” says Ishwar.

Ishwar retired as SDO from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and lives with his wife, a retired government employee, in a flat in a Group Housing Society in Sector 20, and the children are settled abroad.

“We have written to the President, Prime Minister, Union Law Minister, CBI and Haryana Chief Minister, but to no avail. We even made a complaint in the CM window, but no action has been taken against the builder,” he adds.

The Parsavnath Developers had pleaded in forum that they were aiming to complete the construction as per the projected schedule. However, global recession which had hit the market in 2009 affected the real estate sector of India to a large extent, a plea which was dismissed by the court for lack of ground.

The court had stated in its judgment, “It is time the builders’ community realised that any delay in delivery of a habitable flat causes emotional as well as economic trauma to the persons who have booked it. There could be no worse exemplification of an un-business-like act than the builders having gone in for booking even before the necessary approvals for the project had been obtained.”