RAVI KANT MAHAJAN & ANR Vs. UNITECH LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The complainants in Consumer Complaint No. 382 of 2015 initially booked a residential flat in the Project Uniworld City, which the opposite party was to develop in Greater Noida and a flat in the said project was allotted to them. Since the opposite party failed to deliver the said flats, the said complainants applied for refund of the amount which they had paid to it, where upon they were persuaded to switch over to another project namely Alder Grove Nirvana Country II which the opposite party was to develop in Sector 71 and 72 of Gurgaon. The possession of the villas in the said project was agreed to be delivered within two years from the date of the Buyers Agreement. The sale consideration for the said villas was agreed at more than Rupees one crore.The complainants in the other matters either directly booked a villa with the opposite party or purchased the same from the original allottee within a few months of execution of the Buyers Agreement. The opposite party however,failed to deliver possession of the said villas to the complainants within the time agreed with the buyer. Being aggrieved, the complainants are before this Commission, seeking possession of the villas booked by them, along with compensation @ 18% per annum for the period the delivery of the possession has been delayed.

(2.) The complaints have been opposed by the opposite party, primarily on the grounds, which this Commission has repeatedly rejected in a number of Consumer Complaints, such grounds being the delay on the part of the authorities in according approvals, shortage of labour due to Commonwealth Games and implementation of schemes such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. It is also alleged that by an order dated 16.7.2012, Punjab & Haryana High Court had stopped the usage of ground water for construction purposes and had permitted use of only treated water from the available Sewerage Treatment Plant but sufficient water from the Sewerage Treatment Plant was not available. Another reason given by the opposite party for the delay in completion of the construction is the Notification issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, barring excavation of the top soil for manufacturer of bricks and consequent shortage of the bricks in the Region and restriction on mining in the Aravali Region which resulted in shortage of sand, which is a raw material used on the construction activities. It is also claimed that Government of India had placed restriction and prohibition on new projects without obtaining the requisite environmental clearance and there was delay on the part of the Government in constitution of the Environment Impact Assessment Authority. It is also alleged in the reply that the opposite party is obliged to pay only agreed compensation of Rs.50/- per sq. yds for the period the possession has been delayed.

(3.) Vide order dated 02.5.2016, this Commission disposed of a number of Consumer Complaints namely Cap. Gurtaj Singh Sahni Vs. Unitech Limited, Consumer Complaint No.603 of 2014 and connected matter, where the opposite party has delayed the delivery of the possession in the project namely Espace Premier, Unitech Nirvana Country-2, Gurgaon, Haryana, in the same Colony Nirvana Country II in Sector 71 and 72 of Gurgaon. Those complaints were resisted on almost identical grounds. Rejecting such contentions, this Commission inter-alia observed and held as under: