BENGALURU: In a significant verdict pertaining to a delayed housing project in Bengaluru, the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission has ordered that the onus of paying compensation to home buyers rests both with the developer as well as a landowner if they construct it jointly.
Billing it a landmark verdict, the Karnataka Homebuyers’ Forum said it would serve as a reference case for similar disputes, and have a bearing on real estate projects across the country.
The order was issued on Tuesday (November 27) by members Binoy Kumar and Sudip Ahluwalia in a case filed in 2017 by 52 home buyers of ND Laurel Apartment at Vinayaka Nagar in Gunjur village. Supposed to be completed in March 2013, the project is still incomplete, with an occupancy certificate too not given to homeowners.
Advocate Chandrachur Bhattacharyya, appearing on behalf of the home buyers, said, “It has been nine years since the handover was to be complete. Without an occupancy certificate, it remains only a paper project.” Home buyers have paid between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 60 lakh each, and those who want a refund will be given the amount with 9 per cent annual interest, while those who want to continue with the project will be paid the money with 8 per cent interest for all the years of delay until the Occupancy Certificate is handed over, he said.
“The onus will be on both the developer of Laurel and those who sold the land to him,” he explained. Dhananjaya Padmanabhachar of Karnataka Homebuyers’ Forum told TNIE, “Under the Real Estate Regulatory Authority Act, land owners too are equally responsible for the delay. This judgment is finally in line with the RERA Act.”
“In our case against Mantri Developers, we have made the landowners Iskcon, India Heritage Trust and Gokulam Shelters party. We hope to get a similar judgment in our case too,” he added.