Acouple of weeks ago, the Tamil Nadu Consumer Disputes Redressal Commision directed the Anna Nagar-based Pace Builders to refund Rs. 7.8 lakh to petitioners J. Leo and Padmini Jayaraj for not allotting them a flat despite their having paid the advance amount.
The petitioners submitted that they had booked a flat at Pace Builders’ Selayur project, paying an advance of Rs. 1 lakh towards the total cost of Rs. 46.45 lakh on May 12, 2007, and an additional amount of Rs. 6.80 lakh later.
The petitioners say that the builder had failed to arrange a housing loan for them despite a promise to that effect. They also claimed that the building makes violations from the approved plan and the sale-cum-construction agreement.
Meanwhile, despite losing the case in the consumer forum, M. Krishnakumar, MD, Pace Builders, presents his side of the story, claiming that the petitioners were not allotted a flat because, after paying the advance, they relocated to Australia. “Despite repeated attempts to contact them, they did not respond. When they returned, they wanted the flat at the rate at which they had booked it, but, by this time, the rates had gone beyond Rs. 5,000 per sq.ft.”
The builder refutes the accusation of plan violations, saying, “If there was such a deviation on our part, how did the 350 other residents of the complex get their home loans approved?”
The other sore point with the builders is the fact that news reports have suggested that the consumer court made them pay a fine of Rs. 7.8 lakh to the petitioners. Says Krishnakumar, “The truth is that the court asked us to pay a fine of just Rs. 10,000. The Rs. 7.8 lakh was the booking amount that we refunded by depositing it with the court.”
The petitioners had asked the consumer forum for compensation of Rs. 12 lakh for mental agony as well as refund of the advance amount, but the court awarded a fine of Rs. 10,000 plus refund.
