02 November,2016 08:27 AM IST | | Gaurav Sarkar
The buyers are alleging that Hirandani builders duped them by 'selling' homes on land marked for an SEZ in Panvel and not delivering on promise
The buyers claim to have paid 95 per cent of the flat value and have been waiting since 7 years for possessiont
The buyers claim to have paid 95 per cent of the flat value and have been waiting since 7 years for possessiont
More than 1,600 overseas Indians have complained to the Prime Minister's Office that developer Hiranandani has 'duped' them by 'selling' them homes in a Panvel project that stands on land reserved for a Special Economic Zone.
The buyers said while the allotment letters in 2009 said they were being sold the flats, the subsequent registration documents said they will hold the flats on a 99-year lease. Besides, the buyers say they haven't got possession after seven years despite having paid up to 95 per cent of the full value.
Adding to their woes, in 2011, when Sunny Vista Realtors (helmed by Niranjan Hiranandani at the time) was unable to pay back the project loan, the lenders put up the project for auction.
A consortium of banks seized the project in 2013, refusing to recognise the buyers' rights. The buyers moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), which ordered that the flats will have to be finished by whoever takes over the project through an open e-auction.
The SEZ auctioned the land to another partially-owned Hiranandani entity. With no end in sight, the buyers on September 28 wrote to the commerce ministry and the prime minister seeking intervention. In a letter dated October 14, the Commerce Ministry told the buyers that the matter will be discussed in a meeting of the SEZ Board of Approval (BOA) scheduled for November 3.
Rude awakening
"I believed the Hiranandanis were ethical," said Bhagwan Bansal, who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, and who claims he paid nearly 95 per cent of home price in Hiranandani Palace Gardens.
When buyers saw the bank notice in the press two years later, they knew there was trouble. "We had no idea Hiranandani had been defaulting on loans for at least six months," said Ashish Anantharam, an entrepreneur from London. "An e-auction was conducted within 90 days of the DRT's notice in March 2013. No one bought it because of too much litigation."
Soon, another Hiranandani-linked entity - Persipina Developers - took over the project. The buyers found, based on auction notices, that the banks - claiming there were no takers for the R850-crore price tag - reduced the base price to R550 crore, exactly the amount Sunny Vista had failed to pay in the first price.
Another jolt
This June, when buyers approached the SEZ authorities on noticing discrepancies in the builder's claims, they were told that sale of flats was prohibited in SEZ zones unless the land was denotified.
"An official told us the word 'sale' won't be there in the registered agreement. It was true. The agreement copy states it is just a beneficial right to use for 99 years," said Anantharam, adding that the allotment letter and other mortgage documents mention 'sale'.
The buyers also said they were charged 100 per cent stamp duty by the state government in accordance with the rate applicable to 'sale', and not lease.
"According to the Maharashtra Ownership Flat Act (MOFA) Act, an allotment letter is as good as a contract, and whatever is contained in the allotment letter must be looked at from the point of view of a contract," said Anantharam. The buyers are now hopeful of a positive solution from the November 3 SEZ meeting.
Rs 50 lakh
Average cost of each fla
