22 years on, duped senior citizens in Mumbai could get their money back

Twenty-two years after being deprived of their flats by Paranjpe builders, an ageing group of 130-odd litigants are still awaiting refund of their money, despite several court orders in their favour. 

The last order that ordered auction of the builder’s property to get them the money is five years old. The money, Rs1.9 crore, out of the auction has been pending with the collector for a year now and is presently been deposited with the Bandra consumer forum since January 2010.

Narayan Rahalkar, 80, was nearing retirement when his friend, BW Bhatkande recommended an upcoming building by Paranjpe builders at Virar. Rahalkar, Bhatkande and many others are part of Nagaon Rahiwasi Sangh and had known each other for years. They hailed from the Nagaon village near Alibaug.

Rahalkar bought a flat in his wife Rohini’s name. Like him, over 100 members of the same community bought flats with the same builder, and paid extra so that a community hall could be built. Most of the members paid Rs60,000 each as advance; the flats cost Rs70,000 each.

Their troubles started in 1988 when local tribals protested against the building coming up. Paranjpe moved the Bombay high court and got permission to build within a month. But he never continued construction of the building and abandoned the project.

This group had many meetings with Paranjpe who kept promising them their flats. In 1994, they moved the Bandra consumer redressal forum through their lawyer, Anand Patwardhan. “Bhatkande, who died a couple of years back, took it upon himself to get our hard-earned money back. He felt a sense of social responsibility and his determination to pursue this case never waned,” said Arun Londhe, 64, one of the litigants.

In 1999, the consumer forum ordered the builder to
refund the amounts of the litigants; the order was supposed to be complied with within 60 days.

“Paranjpe said he didn’t have the money. In 2005, he agreed to part with his property to refund our amounts. The court ordered the Thane district collector to auction off his property and refund our money,” said Rahalkar.

Rahalkar then started his innumerable trips to Thane district collector office and Virar tehsilsdar. “We had to literally run from pillar to post. We had to ensure Paranjpe gave us land that is accessible. First, they placed inconspicuous advertisements in newspapers. We got them to place bigger ads. We fought his frivolous petitions in the HC. Finally, in 2008 the land was auctioned off,” said Rahalkar. 

For an entire year, the money (over Rs1.9 crore) remained with the collector. The collector moved the money to the consumer forum since Janaury 2010.