January 18, 2018

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Tuesday set aside an order passed by the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRera), saying a six-year delay in possession of flat was “justifiable” on grounds of “administrative uncertainties and obstacles” as presented by the builder.

Observing that the Rera authority did not seem to have followed principles of natural justice while passing the order last year, the HC sent it back to them for re-consideration. The bench of Justices R M Borde and R G Ketkar directed it to decide the matter afresh in three months.

Sharan and Vandana Lund had moved the HC last month to challenge a November 28, 2017, order by Rera member Vijay Satbir Singh denying them compensation. Singh had held that the Imperial Heights project in Goregaon (West), where they had booked a flat, was delayed due to “reasons beyond the control of the builder’’.

Justice Ketkar, who was part of the special bench that had last December upheld the constitutional validity of Rera, observed that even if an extension is granted to a builder for delay for reasons beyond his control, his liability to compensate is not extinguished.

The authority had ordered the builder, Epitome Residency, to pay interest at 2% more than the maximum interest rate, as provided by Rera, to the Lunds if possession was delayed only beyond April 1, 2018. The builder offered to hand over keys to their Rs 1-crore flat by March-end.

The Rera order had accepted the builder’s contention that administrative conflict or “policy paralysis” at the government level were external reasons beyond his control and, hence, the delay cannot be pinned on him. The builder had cited loss of files in the Mantralaya fire and incorrect classification of land under CRZ for years before it was rectified by an HC order in 2016.

The couple contended on Tuesday that the Rera authority had “blindly accepted submissions made by the builder without following elementary principles of a civil trial”.

The Rera lawyer questioned the jurisdiction of the HC since there is an appellate tribunal under Rera. But it was pointed out that the petition was filed before it was recently set up and that the tribunal was not fully functional.

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Source: timesgroup.com