BBSR builder asked to refund money with interest for delaying project
Homebuyers have now reasons to cheer with the emergence of buyer-friendly legislations like RERA and RE (R and D) Act as their investment in real estate sector won’t go waste, if the builder/real estate owner does not complete the project in time.
By giving a major relief to the home buyers in an exemplary judgment on July 1, the Odisha Real Estate Regulatory Authority (ORERA) has directed the Unitech Limited, India’s largest real estate builder, to refund a buyer the amount it had received with interest within 45 days for repeated failure to meet the timeline.
According to information available, one Madhusmita Das, a resident of Prahalad’s Paradise, Adarsh Vihar, under Infocity Police circle, Bhubaneswar, filed a complaint against promoter Unitech Limited before the ORERA, claiming refund of money and compensation for delay in completing the project.
Notably, complainant Das had entered into an agreement with the Unitech Limited represented through Swaroop Pattnaik and Soumya Ranjan Parida of Bhunbaneswar on November 23, 2011 to purchase one unit bearing No.0132 having an area of 544 sqft in the first floor of a commercial complex at Bhubaneswar at a price of Rs 40,25,600 with the condition that the unit was to be completed with 36 months from date of agreement i.e. 22.11.2014.
In November 2014, when the complainant visited the site to know the progress of the work as assured, she found that the construction was far behind the schedule which the complainant informed to the builder who too admitted the delay and assured to give delivery of the property latest by 2016 and again by second half of 2017.
However, between 2014 and 2019, the complainant made several correspondences and telephonic conversations with the builder requesting him to refund Rs 39,87,450 she had paid along with interest and compensation.
Significantly, the project was found incomplete till filing of the case before the RERA. Hearing the case, the three-member bench of the ORERA court, comprising AK Mahapatra (Chairperson), BC Mahapatra and Niranjan Sahu in their order directed the builder to refund Rs 39,87,450 with interest within 45 days from the date of receipt of the order. Advocate Deepak Kumar Panda was the counsel for the complainant while S Mohanty was the counsel for the builder.