A Mumbai developer was ordered by the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to refund Rs 1.05 crore with interest to a couple from Maharashtra's Raigad district after it was found that the developer sold their fully paid booked flat to a third party, the Times of India reported. The order came after the couple's decade-long legal battle.
As per the complaint, Mohamed Jalil Harnekar and his wife Asger Shabnam, who works as a college professor, had booked a 660 sq ft residential flat in Mumbai in 2013.
The couple had earlier paid for a residential project in Dongri, but after the project was stalled, the developer shifted their booking to the “Bay View” project in Mazgaon and revised the total cost to Rs 90 lakh.
The couple paid the entire amount by 2018 but neither received possession nor a registered Agreement for Sale. However, they later discovered that the same flat had been sold to another buyer.
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The developer had issued cheques worth Rs 1.25 crore towards repayment and compensation, but the cheques bounced due to insufficient funds.
A Memorandum of Understanding dated June 29, 2021 acknowledged the liability, and after a partial payment of Rs 20 lakh, Rs 1.05 crore remained outstanding.
The consumer commission, while hearing the case ex-parte as the developer failed to appear, ruled that the buyers were entitled to a refund.
"A builder or developer accepting the entire sale consideration, failing to construct the project, failing to register the statutory agreement, selling the allotted flat to a third party, and subsequently issuing bogus cheques towards an admitted refund liability constitutes a case of deficiency in service and severe unfair trade practice," the commission observed.
The bench directed the developer to pay Rs 1.05 crore with 10% annual interest from the date of the MOU, along with Rs 50,000 compensation for mental agony and Rs 25,000 litigation costs.
The interest rate will rise to 15% if payment is not made within 60 days.
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