The complainant is Gulmohar Road No. 1 resident Sushil Gupta, 52, who lodged the plaint on February 15 against the directors of M/s The Wadhwa Group Holdings Private Limited
Sushil Gupta
The Juhu police have begun an inquiry against a reputed builder for allegedly not handing over the possession of a flat in an under construction project in DN Nagar, Andheri West, even after taking 40 per cent as consideration amount in 2013-2014 from a Juhu resident.
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The complainant is Gulmohar Road No. 1 resident Sushil Gupta, 52, who lodged the plaint on February 15 against the directors of M/s The Wadhwa Group Holdings Private Limited. He alleges they hatched a conspiracy and cheated him to the tune of over R1.66 crore, which was the 40 per cent consideration amount he'd paid the said builder against the total flat value — that includes two car parking spaces —of R4.32 crore, between 2013-2014.
Speaking to mid-day, Sushil Gupta, who runs an engineering manufacturing unit in Pune, claimed he'd booked the flat admeasuring 1,121 sq feet in the project titled 'The NEST' and was accordingly allotted flat 402 in the 18-storey B wing, vide allotment letter dated August 2, 2013. The flat is owned by Sushil, his wife Priti and son Tanay.
Possession in 2015
The family was supposed to get the possession of the flat by 2015, as per the allotment letter, but unfortunately, the construction work for that wing has not even reached the podium level yet. Gupta said he has been unable to send his younger daughter abroad for studies as a huge amount of funds have been blocked in this project.
Gupta added, "I had borrowed funds from my relatives and even taken loan of R40 lakh from ICICI bank to pay the developer, which has been acknowledged in writing by the builder. In his letter, the builder has even assured ICICI bank the possession of the flat by 2015, but they failed to honour their written documents."
When asked the reason behind the delay in lodging the complaint, Gupta said he was doing regular follow-ups with the builder's office bearers and they kept assuring that the work would be completed by Holi or Diwali, and they even claimed to have entered into a joint venture with another builder to construct the B wing. But work on that wing has only reached podium level until now.
In their response to an e-mail query by mid-day, a spokesperson of The Wadhwa Group stated, "Our project 'The Nest' is a RERA-registered project and we are committed to delivering the possession [of flats] to buyers by March 31, 2020, the date as mentioned in our RERA registration. The concerned buyer Mr. Sushil Gupta, had earlier complained to RERA authorities, which was dismissed. Mr Gupta has once again preferred a complaint before RERA, which is pending, where we are to submit our say."
"The project consists of two wings. We have offered Mr. Gupta possession of a flat at an identical location and preference in the other wing. However, he has refused to accept it for reasons best known to him. In his complaint before RERA, he has raised issues which are not tenable in law and we are defending the same. He is resorting to arm-twisting tactics to knock out illegal gains from us with ulterior motives," said the spokesperson.
Gupta refutes
In response to this, Gupta admitted to filing a complaint with RERA but claimed he was not represented properly by a junior lawyer. Then, when the matter came up for hearing on February 4, the builder's representatives were asked by RERA members to give a written submission of the date for handing over the possession. "But RERA did not even consider the fact that we had booked the flat in 2013, and possession was to be given in 2015. We have been waiting since 2015, and now, as per the RERA website, the project completion date is 2020," he said.
Gupta also admits he refused to take a similar flat in another tower as it would be unsafe to think of staying in an incomplete construction site, with no power, water, sewage line and fire safety in place.
'Builder is duty-bound'
Gupta's advocate Vinod Sampat said, "The builder has sold two car parking spaces despite the law being crystal clear that builders cannot sell car parking space that is not included in FSI calculations. Also, the builder has taken initial payment of more than 20 per cent, as he has not executed the sale agreement. In fact the builder has no right to recover more than 10 per cent money after the introduction of RERA without registering the agreement."
Copspeak
Senior police inspector of Juhu police station, Pandharinath Wavhal said, "We have started our inquiry and will soon call the complainant to record his statement with all relevant documents. We will then call the builder to record his statement. After going through the documents, we will decide on registering the FIR."
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