Five years on, Jogeshwari man waits for his flats to be built

Project Rajal in Jogeshwari East

Forty-seven-year-old Chandraprakash Parmar's dream of moving into a bigger house seems to be quite a distant one. Despite paying almost 90 percent of the cost of two flats (R1.9 crore) in Jogeshwari East, which he booked way back in 2014, he is yet to get their possession. What is worse is that till date the developer has not got the required permissions from BMC to construct the flats that have already been sold to Parmar and even registered with the sub-registrar's office.

Parmar, who currently resides in 275-square feet flat in Jogeshwari East along with his family, had booked two flats in a redevelopment project against allotment letters in 2014. In 2017 he had entered into an agreement for sale.

According to Parmar's lawyer Avinash Pawar, who moved MahaRERA against developers M/s Nisar Properties Pvt Ltd said two flats of carpet area 468 square feet and 661.11 square feet respectively on the 10th floor of project 'Rajal' was sold to Parmar through registered agreements for sale in June 2017.

He further said, "The developers did not have the commencement certificate (CC) from the civic authority for the 10th floor even on the day of the agreement for sale."

Pawar alleged that the developers had kept the space for mentioning the possession date in the agreement blank, but they had verbally promised to hand over the property by April 2018. While accepting the booking amount, they had shown Parmar the development agreement, which mentioned the possession date as January 2016. However, later they mentioned in their disclosure with MahaRERA that the proposed date of completion was April 2019, which they revised to June 2022.

Also Read: RERA orders only on paper, buyers still wait for money

Developer pleads not guilty

The developer informed MahaRERA that 'Rajal' was being constructed on a larger plot that belongs to Hardevi CHS. As the Jogeshwari Friends CHS was in a dilapidated condition, they decided to redevelop it and entered into an agreement with the developer in January 2014. The developer received the CC on April 30, 2014 and constructed nine floors.

Meanwhile, the BMC asked Jogeshwari Friends and Hardevi to provide certain documents relating to an FSI dispute. Hardevi refused to provide those documents through a letter dated November 21, 2018. Since then there has been no progress in the construction work, as the BMC needs the documents for granting CC for the above floors.

Meanwhile, a society member filed a civil suit against the developer to stop them from constructing the building further. The suit is still pending before the city civil court.

Also Read: Mumbai: Decade after project launch, buyers await possession in Kalyan

MahaRERA observation

B D Kapadnis, member MahaRERA and adjudicating officer observed, "It is an admitted fact that the respondent was granted CC only for constructing nine floors on July 29, 2016. But the respondent has not produced any document that shows that they have approval for constructing the 10th floor.

The order

Kapadnis, in his order stated, "The parties shall incorporate the agreed date of possession as December 31, 2019, in the agreement by way of corrigendum. The respondent shall get the approvals/sanctions necessary for constructing the flats at the earliest and handover the property along with Occupation Certificate on the aforesaid date of possession.

Not ready for any settlement: Parmar

Parmar said, "The developer has not been doing any construction work at the site since 2016. After constant follow-ups, they agreed to enter into an agreement with me in 2017. I paid the government dues of R20 lakh and also 90 per cent of the sale price, which is more than R1.5 crore. Yet I haven't got the flats. He added, "The developer has been calling me for a settlement but every time I go for it, nobody turns up. This clearly shows their intention. I am not ready for any settlement. I want my flats on the day stated in the order."

'Removing crucial info'

Advocate Pawar said, "This is a classic example of developers removing crucial information from the agreement. Often buyers don't read all the clauses and also don't question why certain spaces are kept blank in the agreement before signing. In this case too, the developer had added a clause in the agreement that if there was any delay in handing over the property, the buyer would not be able to claim any interest, damages, rent, losses etc, which is against the statute. Even MahaRERA in its order struck down such a clause stating that no person can be deprived of his legal rights from claiming benefits."

Also Read: MHADA circular: Want redevelopment projects under RERA

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