Chandigarh: Realtors to pay Rs 50k for selling cottages illegally

CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed two real estate firms to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation for selling cottages without seeking prior permission from the Greater

Mohali

Area Development Authority (Gmada) and other authorities. They were also directed to refund Rs 17.21 lakh with interest, paid by the complainant for buying the cottage farmhouse.


In his complaint, Paramjit Singh Dhunde stated that lured by the impressive brochures and pamphlets of Siswan Paradise Pvt Ltd and Emerging India Real Assets Pvt Ltd, he applied for a cottage farmhouse of 2,420 square yard for personal use by paying Rs 21,000 as application fee on August 30, 2012 and subsequently, he paid Rs 17 lakh as full and final payment.

However, after some time, he came to know that the realtors had played fraud with many buyers, as they had neither taken any permission from the Gmada nor they had the CLU clearance for selling the plots. Later, the realtors left the

project without any information to him and were holding the money paid by him illegally, Dhunde had claimed.

As the relators did not any reply to the complaint’s plea, the forum decided the case ex parte.

The forum observed that the documents prove that the realtors had launched a project for sale of plots for cottage farmhouses and farm houses, for which they were required to obtain change of land use (CLU) permission from the competent authorities. In the absence of any such permission, the realtors were not in a position to offer the allotment of plots to the complainant and others, because the agricultural land could not be sold in the shape of plots without CLU clearance. So, the realtors kept the complainant in dark, it stated.

Observing that “the complainant cannot be made to wait for an indefinite period and the realtors, who are not in a position to deliver the possession of the plot in question, have no right to retain the hard earned money of the complainant”, the forum directed them to pay up.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.