E-Paper
Ownership of housing project in Panchkula’s Sector 30 to remain with allottees
Haryana Real Estate Appellate Tribunal dismisses developer’s plea against an HRERA order that allowed the allottees’ association to complete the project with their funds
The Haryana Real Estate Appellate Tribunal has dismissed an appeal by a realty firm whose project is in limbo for over 13 years and upheld the order of HRERA of giving the project’s ownership rights to the allottees.
The project, Amazon The Defence County, is being developed by GLM Infratech Pvt Ltd in Sector 30, Panchkula, since July 2009, when the Haryana department of town and county planning granted it a licence. The firm undertook the development of four towers consisting of 456 units in the first phase and sold majority of the flats.
However, due to delay in construction, the allottees have not been handed possession of the flats even 13 years later.
Four years ago, in 2018, majority of these allottees had formed an association, GLM Buyers’ Welfare Association, and filed a complaint with the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority, Panchkula (HRERA).
Providing them relief, HRERA had ruled, “The promoter is not in a position to complete the project, which is in limbo for the last 10 years. There are massive liabilities of the promoter towards bank, state government, suppliers and allottees because of which it is highly unlikely that they will be able to generate resources from market or financial institutions.”
The authority had further observed, “There is no other way available to complete the project except by way of handing over the project to the association (which has collected ₹1.5 crore seed money for incurring initial expenditure) as provided for under Section 8 of the RERA Act.”
It had then ordered that the association henceforth will be treated as the project’s owner. It will focus its efforts towards completion of the four ongoing towers and laying of infrastructure facilities.
However, the developer approached the Haryana Real Estate Appellate Tribunal, Panchkula, against the HRERA order, claiming that it was in violation of Section 8 of the RERA Act.
Developer’s contention
The developer had claimed that the authority did not consult the state government before taking action, which was mandatory. Also, under the Act, HRERA can only exercise its jurisdiction upon lapse of the registration or on revocation of the registration under this Act.
The company had pleaded that the authority granted a relief that was not even prayed for by the complainants. Thus, its order was contrary to law and in violation of the principles of natural justice.
After hearing the plea, the tribunal in its October 13 order observed, “The company has failed to complete the project. As per the forensic audit report, dated December 14, 2020, financial liability of ₹171.92 crore is pending against the appellant (company).”
“The authority (HRERA) is passing various orders to remove the hurdles and expedite the work. Under these circumstances, we cannot ask the allottees to pay their balance payment to the appellant for completion of the project,” the tribunal stated, while dismissing the developer’s appeal.
Box:
The allottees do not have any faith in the company that it will ever be able to give them the possession of their units. They do not want to further associate with the company and to invest their funds for completing the project. A large number of allottees have already become members of the association and have contributed money for completing the project.
