Developer Ordered to Refund Rs 1.05 Crore to Couple After Secretly Selling Their Flat

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NEW DELHI: A couple from Raigad district in Maharashtra has won a long legal battle after a consumer commission ordered a developer to refund Rs 1.05 crore with interest, after finding that the flat they had booked and paid for in full was secretly sold to another buyer. The complainants had booked a residential flat in Mumbai in 2013, paid the entire amount of Rs 90 lakh, but never received possession. They later discovered that the developer had already transferred the same flat to someone else.

What was the issue

Mohamed Jalil Harnekar, an accountant with Kuwait Petroleum International, and his wife Asger Shabnam, a college professor, had initially booked a 660 sq ft flat in a project in Dongri, Mumbai for Rs 60 lakh. After that project stalled, the developer shifted them to another project called "Bay View" in Mazgaon and revised the total amount to Rs 90 lakh, with earlier payments adjusted against the new booking. By 2018, the couple had paid the full amount. Despite receiving full payment, the developer never executed a registered Agreement for Sale, failed to complete construction, and eventually sold the same flat to another buyer. The developer then issued cheques totalling Rs 1.25 crore — Rs 1.15 crore as repayment and Rs 10 lakh as additional compensation — but every cheque bounced due to insufficient funds. A notarised Memorandum of Understanding dated June 29, 2021 had formally admitted a total debt of Rs 1.25 crore. After a partial payment of Rs 20 lakh was made during police proceedings in 2023, the outstanding amount stood at Rs 1.05 crore. Frustrated after a decade of broken promises, the couple filed a police complaint at Byculla Police Station in May 2022 and eventually approached the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

What the commission said

The bench comprising Presiding Member Poonam V. Maharshi and Member Dr. Nisha Amol Chavhan noted that the developer did not appear before the commission and the matter was decided ex-parte. The commission noted that since the developer had secretly sold the flat to someone else after collecting the full payment, there was no question of handing over possession anymore. It ruled that the couple was entitled to a full refund. "A builder or developer accepting the entire sale consideration, failing to construct the project, failing to register the statutory agreement, selling the allotted flat to a third party, and subsequently issuing bogus cheques towards an admitted refund liability constitutes a case of deficiency in service and severe unfair trade practice," the commission said. The commission also noted the physical toll on the couple, who had to travel over 150 kilometres from their home in Raigad to the developer's Mumbai offices repeatedly, only to be turned away with excuses and false assurances. It said the developer's conduct went beyond a mere lapse in service and amounted to deliberate harassment and profiting at the buyers' expense. The commission directed the developer to refund Rs 1.05 crore with interest at 10 per cent per annum from the date of the MOU (June 29, 2021) until actual payment, along with Rs 50,000 as compensation for mental agony and Rs 25,000 towards litigation costs. It warned that if the developer fails to comply within 60 days, the interest rate will be enhanced to 15 per cent per annum.

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