Mumbai: The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has dealt a major blow to a leading developer for failing to give possession to homebuyers.
In an order dated April 4, MahaRERA said, for the delay in giving possession to 32 home buyers, in the Diamond project, at Mulund West, Nirmal Lifestyle Ltd has been directed to pay two per cent rate of interest to the complainants, on the money paid by them since 2015 to date. This is first-of-its-kind order wherein MahaRERA has provided relief to 32 homebuyers of the same project.
The dispute started when the builder, even after 13 years since starting the project, failed to hand over possession of flats to these 32 aggrieved homebuyers who had paid the money in 2005. They moved MahaRERA contending on merits that Nirmal Lifestyle should pay them interest on the money they had paid.
Justifying the delay in handing over the flats, the builder replied that a part of this land, on which the township project was being built, went into dispute, as it was demarcated as a private forest. Following which the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation issued a stop-work notice. After prolonged litigation in the Supreme Court, the notice, which declared the land as a private forest, was quashed in 2015.
After hearing both parties, MahaRERA observed that the builder cannot take indefinite time to complete a project and make allottees wait for a long period. They set aside arguments of the builder that he had not assured of any specific date of possession when they signed the agreement with these homebuyers.
