The state consumer dispute redressal commission recently pulled up a Kandivli-based developer who failed to hand over possession of a flat which was booked in 1996. The commission directed the developer to reimburse the cost of the flat, Rs 5,23,000, along with 12 per cent interest from December 1997 onwards.
The commission also directed the developer to pay an additional amount of Rs 19,715, which the complainant had paid as registration fees as well as stamp duty for the booked flat. The commission further directed the developer to pay an additional Rs 5000 towards the complainant's litigation cost.
According to Rajan Desai, a resident of Borivali, he had booked a flat in one of the projects raised by M/S Ravi developers on April 18, 1996. As per the contract, Desai had booked a flat in 'Gaurav City', and the developer had promised Desai that he would get possession of it by December 31, 1997. However, the developer allegedly failed to hand over possession of the flat next year too. Desai sent several letters to the developer, however even till 2001, the developer hadn't handed over the flat.
Desai approached the district consumer forum and filed a complainant against the developer. The developer replied, "The delay in delivery of possession was on account of reasons beyond the control of the opponent like slackness in market, financial crunch, shortage of building material, insistence by suppliers of taking supply from few selected sources, etc. Thus there was no deficiency in service provided to the complainant."
The developer also said that after completion of work, the complainant himself changed his mind and instead of taking possession of the flat, wanted a refund, though the developer was ready to rectify genuine complaints of the complainant about the construction.
The district consumer forum, after going through the evidence, held that the forum should hand over the total cost of the flat which Desai had paid to the developer.
The same was upheld by the state consumer redressal commission, which ordered the builder to pay back the total amount of the flat to the complainant along with compensation for the lack of services on the developer's part.
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