by THO
The Delhi high court, underlining the significance of buying a house as “one of the most crucial financial and emotional investments for a family”, directed the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) to refund over ₹76 lakh to a flat owner and also pay him ₹5 lakh for “extreme mental agony” he suffered due to a delay in handover.
This decision came in a case of the NBCC failing to give possession of a flat to a homebuyer, despite payment for the same being made in entirety in 2017. The project, NBCC Green View Apartments, was to come up in Sector 37 of Gurugram. The apartments were especially earmarked for government servants.
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“Purchasing a house is one of the most significant investments an individual or family make in their lifetime. It often involves years of savings, meticulous planning and emotional investment. When builders of such homes fail to deliver what was promised, they shatter the trust and financial security of homebuyers and also put homebuyers in a situation where they may face immense stress, anxiety, uncertainty and ultimately be forced to navigate legal channels for seeking recourse,” said justice Subramonium Prasad.
In the verdict delivered on Wednesday, the judge said that the emotional toll of living in limbo, uncertainty about the future of the investment of homebuyers and the stability of their living arrangements cannot be understated. Justice Prasad said that compensating wronged homebuyers is not merely about rectifying past injustices, but also serves as a deterrent against future misconduct.
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The petitioner, a retired government employee, booked the apartment on June 23, 2012, by depositing a sum of ₹2.08 lakh. The total consideration for the flat was a sum of ₹76,85,576, which was paid in 2017. He approached the high court aggrieved by NBCC’s failure to hand over the flat in NBCC Green View Apartments despite full payment. His plea highlighted NBCC’s failure, even six years later, in 2023, to deliver the flat, provide an alternative or refund the entire amount, leaving him without accommodation and his life savings.
The NBCC, represented through senior advocate Arvind Minocha, opposed the plea on the ground that the petitioner approached multiple fora for similar relief.
The bench, however, called the NBCC’s stand “unfortunate”, noting that NBCC is a public sector undertaking (PSU) company under the ministry of housing and urban affairs. Justice Prasad said that a helpless homebuyer, who invested life savings into purchasing a house, has no choice but to fight for justice, facing financial constraints and uncertainty about accommodation post-retirement.
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“Such a person faces financial crunch to ensure proper education to his children and in such a situation, he has no other option but to knock on the doors of various forums hoping to get relief and in such a situation the contention of the state that the person is guilty of forum shopping cannot be accepted at all,” the court said.
The court ordered the enterprise to refund the cost of the house, along with damages.
