Mumbai, Jun 25 The Maharashtra Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered two builders' firms to refund Rs 1.05 crore with interest to a couple for failing to deliver them a flat after accepting full payment, and selling it to another person.
In the ruling passed last week, the commission noted that the complainants, who had invested their life savings in the project in Mumbai, endured "an egregious and protracted ordeal spanning over a decade".
The order was passed ex parte (in the absence of respondent party) as the builder firms Universal Housing & Infrastructure and Universal Construction along with Saquib Shaikh Ahmed Mukadam and Sajid Shaikh Ahmed Mukadam who managed these companies failed to submit their response.
As per the complaint filed by the couple, the husband was employed as an accountant with a Kuwait-based company while the wife taught at a junior college in Raigad.
They paid Rs 40 lakh in 2013 to book a flat in the respondents' "Dongri Project". When the construction did not start within the promised 36-month timeline, the builders persuaded them to shift their investment to another project called "Bay View" located in Mazgaon.
The couple paid the sale price of Rs 90 lakh in full by September 2018. To their shock, they later discovered that the flat allotted to them had already been sold to a third party.
When confronted, the builders offered to refund their money. But the cheques repatedly bounced due to insufficient funds, the complaint said.
The builders executed an MoU in June 2021, acknowledging a total liability of Rs 1.25 crore, out of which Rs 20 lakh were paid in 2023, but the balance remained unpaid, the couple claimed.
The consumer commission held that the builders' actions were "gross abuse of trust" and amounted to deficiency in service and unfair trade practices.
"The opposite parties (builders) not only deprived the complainants of their hard-earned life savings but engaged in a systematic pattern of deceit, marked by unfulfilled assurances, the arbitrary shifting of allotments between projects, and the repeated issuance of worthless cheques," the commission said.
The commission highlighted the "severe physical and emotional toll exacted upon" the complainants, who had to travel over 150 km from their residence in Mangaon to the builders' offices in Mumbai on numerous occasions, "only to be met with evasive responses and empty promises."
The brazen sale of the allotted flat to a third party showed "mala fide approach that transcends mere deficiency in service, amounting to acute harassment and unjust enrichment," the commission said.
The commission directed the builders to refund Rs 1.5 crore to the complainants with 10% per annum interest to be calculated from June 2021.
The builders were also directed to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation for the severe mental agony, physical harassment and financial distress, and Rs 25,000 towards legal expenses.
