Delay in flat delivery is deficiency of service: Court

Holding that delay in delivery of flats amounted to deficiency in service on part of the builder, the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ordered Ekta Sankar Developers to pay Rs1 lakh to a Boisar resident.

Holding that delay in delivery of flats amounted to deficiency in service on part of the builder, the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ordered Ekta Sankar Developers to pay Rs1 lakh to a Boisar resident.

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Captain Bhupinder Pal Singh claimed that ho got possession of two flats purchased by him two years after the stipulated date.

"The complainant had paid substantial part of consideration well before the date when possession was expected to be received. Said money got locked for the period of delay in handing over possession because of which the complainant suffered inconvenience," a bench comprising the commission's presiding member SR Khanzode and member Dhanraj Khamatkar noted. The commission also ordered the developers to pay additional sum of Rs25,000 to Singh towards cost of litigation.

In January 2007, Singh had booked two flats in Ekta Meadows by paying Rs2.70 lakh as earnest money. The developer had promised to handover possession of the flats by December 31 but failed to do so. Singh then moved the commission seeking direction to the developer to handover possession of the flats immediately and Rs20 lakh as compensation. The developer gave possession of both the flats to Singh in November 2009.

The developer contended that the building was ready in March 2008, and in the same month they had applied to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for occupancy certificate (OC). The delivery was delayed as the OC was received in October 2009.