The Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA) has ordered 17 builders including Ansal, Raheja, M3M India, Vatika, Orris Infrastructure Private Limited, International Land Developers (ILD) Private Limited, Anant Raj and CHD to refund a total of Rs 50 crore for not delivering housing units on time to 63 homebuyers of various under-construction projects.
The HRERA has issued multiple orders pertaining to 17 builders directing them to refund homebuyers' money along with interest at the rate of 9.70 per cent within 90 days.
The refund, the orders say, must be paid keeping the allottees’ right to seek compensation and the expenses involved in legal proceedings. The authority orders have come in the wake of multiple complaints from homebuyers who after losing all hope of getting their homes approached RERA for a refund of the amount paid by them to the builders. "The authority has ordered to refund deposited amounts to homebuyers after hearing both the parties i.e., builders and allottee and on finding builders guilty for non-delivery of units as per builder buyer agreements. The builders should not take homebuyers for granted. The RERA has to protect their rights," RERA chairman, Dr KK Khandelwal said.
“The builders failed to complete the projects and deliver the promised units to homebuyers within stipulated time even after collecting good initial amounts,” said Khandelwal. He informed that, in July nearly 300 matters were listed before the authority for adjudication. In 63 cases, the authority adjudicated the matter allowing a refund with interest at the rate of 9.70 per cent. These adjudications pertain to 17 builders and refund the amount is close to Rs 50 crore. Raheja developers alone have to refund close to Rs 12 crore to 11 homebuyers, of which one refund is Rs 2.35 crore.
VK Goyal, member, HARERA, Gurugram said, “The authority has directed the respondent builders to follow the order. In case they don’t, the complaint can approach the adjudicating authority for execution of orders.”
In another 15 matters, the authority ordered refund after a deduction of 10 per cent earnest money. In all 300 matters, the homebuyers largely wanted refund and that shows the callous attitude of promoters, the authority observed.
Adjudicating Ritu Gupta’s matter, the authority directed Raheja developers to refund more than Rs 29 lakh the amount she had deposited with the builder in two parts at the time of booking in December 2013 a unit in an upcoming project Raheja Navodaya at Sector 92/95, Gurugram.
The authority has also asked the builder to pay interest at the rate of 9.70 per cent as prescribed under the Rule 15 of the Act since the builder failed to offer possession to her in the stipulated time.
The modus operandi of builders was observed similar in all the cases - arbitrary execution of the agreement.
“In the case of Gupta and Raheja developers, Gupta had to pay balance amount at time of possession of unit that was due in June 2016 but builder failed and after expiry of what the homebuyer refused to pay further. Yet, the builder continued to send her demand notice arbitrarily.
Just to extract money from the buyer the builder offered her possession of the unit even without obtaining the Occupation Certificate (OC) from the Town and Country Planning (TCP).
This is a complete violation of the agreement and mental harassment to buyer,” the authority observed during scrutiny of a complaint lodged with the RERA in October 2020 adjudicated after thorough scrutiny.The officials said authority gets hundreds of complaints daily in which buyers want a refund or delayed interest.