NCDRC asks Unitech to refund Rs 29 lakh to home buyer

The apex consumer commission has asked real estate major Unitech Ltd to refund Rs 29.5 lakh to a home buyer for not delivering timely possession of an allotted flat. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission also directed the firm to pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 to Gurgaon resident Manish Daryani for deficiency in rendering services. According to the complaint filed by Daryani, he had booked a residential apartment in Unitech's proposed project, Unitech South Park in Sector 70 of Gurgaon in Haryana.The proposed Rs 91 lakh apartment was booked in March 2011 with an agreement to handover the possession within three years, in 2014. The complaint alleged that despite paying Rs 29, 57, 049 to the builder, the construction work had not begun which led him to approach the NCDRC for relief. The firm told the commission that the project was delayed as the environment clearance for it was received only in 2014. It also cited other reasons such as shortage of labour, raw materials, denial of permission to use groundwater and recession in the global economy. The Commission said that the claim that there was a shortage of labour and raw materials due to the Commonwealth Games of 2010 was wholly misplaced as the agreement for the apartment was in signed in 2011. "I am satisfied that the delay in construction of the flats allotted to the complainant (Daryani) did not happen on account of reasons beyond the control of the opposite party (Unitech). Therefore, the said opposite party was deficient in rendering services to the complainant by not delivering timely possession of the flat allotted to him," presiding member of the commission, Justice V K Jain, said.