Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 21

The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, has directed Omaxe Chandigarh Extension Developers Limited to pay Rs15,000 as compensation for delay in installing a lift in its residential project at Mullanpur. It also directed the builder to pay Rs15,000 as litigation cost to a consumer.

The Commission has also directed the builder to pay 9 per cent penal interest for delaying the possession of the flat.

Sarita Kalia, a resident of Omaxe Cassia, New Chandigarh, approached the Commission after the builder allegedly failed to provide promised services. In the complaint, Sarita said she paid a sum of Rs83,03,501 to the builder, Omaxe Chandigarh Extension Developer Limited, for a period from July 25, 2018 to November 25, 2019, towards her flat located at Omaxe Cassia, Phase 3, Mullanpur, Omaxe Chandigarh Extension, SAS Nagar, Mohali, Punjab.

She said an agreement dated November 28, 2018, was executed between the parties. As per the agreement, the flat was to be delivered latest by January 2019. She alleged that the flat was handed over to her in May 2019 and the lift was not made available in the building.

Sarita said since she was in urgent need of a house, she took over the possession of an incomplete flat with a request to the builder to complete the work later on. However, the builder failed to complete the pending work despite repeated emails. Even the club house was not made available at the project site.

It has been pleaded that in the absence of a lift, it was not possible for her 78-year-old mother-in-law, who is a heart patient, to use the stairs to reach the flat, which is on the second floor of the building.

The builder denied the allegations and also claimed that the possession of the flat was taken over by the complainant after inspecting all facilities and the lift had been installed in the building where the complainant’s flat is located.

After hearing the arguments, the Commission directed the builder to pay a compensation of Rs15,000 to the consumer for delay in the installation of a lift. It also directed the builder to pay interest @9 per cent per annum on the deposited amount for the period of delay from January 1, 2019 to April 30, 2019 (possession taken over in May 2019). The Commission also directed the builder to pay Rs15,000 as litigation cost to the consumer.