Emerald buyers likely to approach CM over delay in delivery of flats

Nearly 500 homebuyers of Emerald Premium Floor in Sector 65 are worried over the delay in getting possession of the dream homes that they booked in 2009. The distressed homebuyers said they are considering approaching chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, seeking his intervention in the matter.

They homebuyers said they have learnt that the developer obtained the occupation certificate (OC) for premium floors from the office of the director general town and country planning (DG-TCP) Haryana in January, 2018.

An Emaar representative said they the OC was issued mistakenly and they are waiting for the no objection certificate (NoC) from the fire department before they could complete the formalities for issuing the OC.

Sumit Aggarwal, a homebuyer, said, “There are many issues with the project. The developer, somehow, managed to obtain the occupation certificate without seeking the NoC from the district fire service department, Gurugram. I have filed an RTI query with the town and country planning department (TCP) in this regard to know how it obtained OC without NOC from the fire service. The project is 85% complete. The sewerage system and the power infrastructure are yet to be installed.”

Emerald Premium Floor is a ground plus five floor project, which is located along the Golf Course Extension Road. The developer was to deliver flats in 2013. The homebuyers said they submitted several memorandums to officials of the TCP department in Haryana and also sent complaints to the CM Window, but got no word of assurance in the matter.

Another buyer, who asked not to be named, said, “I don’t know how the developer obtained OC without obtaining an NoC from the district fire service department. We approached TCP and appealed for help, but nothing happened. We are living on rent and have paid 90% of the booking amount to the developer. We are paying hefty instalments to pay off loans we took to book the flats. However, there’s still no word on when the flats will be delivered.”

Fire NOC is mandatory for any residential (and commercial projects) before handover of possessions, said a senior official of the fire service department, Gurugram.

“Any building, with a height of 15 metres or above, has to have two fire escapes, fire sprinklers, refuge area and fire tenders, apart from other arrangements. In this project, there is only a single fire escape. Our team inspected the project in December 2017. We will not comment on how the OC was obtained by the developer,” Isham Singh Kashyap, district fire officer, Gurugram, said.

Emaar MGF Land Limited – the developer – has three projects at Sector 65. These are Emerald Hills, Emerald Estate and Emerald Premium Floors. The floors in these projects are range from ground plus two to 12. The premium floor is ground plus six.

“The occupation certificate was issued by the TCP by mistake in January and we wrote letter to the department in February regarding the fire NOC. It was our job to help the department correct its mistake on time. We have no further communication from the department on whether they have withheld the OC or not. We are still to get fire NOC. This is the reason for delay,” said a spokesperson for Emaar MGF Land Limited.

The homebuyers are also likely to approach Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA) for help.

Quizzed on the matter, KM Pandurang, director general, TCP Haryana, said, “I am not aware of the OC in question. I will get it checked and rectify any error if committed.”

First Published: Sep 03, 2018 05:25 IST