Maradu apartment case: 13 flat owners entitled to interim compensation, says SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that 13 individuals, who bought flats in the now demolished Maradu Apartments in Kerala, are entitled to interim compensation. The bench comprising Justices Navin Sinha and Krishna Murari observed that they cannot be denied compensation on the grounds that a sale deed had not been executed.

“We are of the considered opinion that once it has been established that the 13 homebuyers have in fact made payments to the two builders, they are also entitled to interim compensation and cannot be deprived merely for the reason that no sale deed had been executed, the facts not being in dispute,” the Supreme Court’s order read.

Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, counsel for the parties told the court that the 13 flat owners have made a total payment of  Rs 4,73,50,400 to the builders Holy Faith Builders & Developers and Jain Housing & Constructions Ltd for a sum of Rs 1,11,70,754 and Rs.3,61,79,646 respectively.  They have proofs for the same, he said.

Arguing on behalf of Appu Suresh and Tono Thomas, two homebuyers, senior counsel V Chitambaresh said that though his parties paid full price for the flat and were given possession on February 1, 2015 and December 20, 2013, the sale deed was not registered. Citing the same, the interim compensation should not be denied to them, Chitambaresh said.

After hearing the case, the SC said, “The value of the compensation claimed by these 13 persons, has to be determined without taking into account the proportionate value of the land.”

The Supreme Court was approached by the committee, which was constituted to oversee the compensation to the flat owners. The committee headed by Justice (Retd.) K Balakrishnan Nair had sought clarification from the apex court regarding determination of the compensation money.

The committee had written, “We think that this point may be clarified by the Hon’ble Supreme Court – whether we should include the value of land shown to have been paid to the builder and also acknowledged by the builder as having been received, in the amount actually paid by the claimants. In view of the opposition by most of the flat owners to receive back today the price of the undivided share of land that they paid 7-12 years ago, we exclude the land value from the amount payable by the builder to the flat owners for the time being.”