The Gurugram bench of the Haryana real estate regulatory authority (HRERA) has ordered Vatika Limited to refund money with interest to all 28 allottees of its housing project which the developer has abandoned.
The HRERA court had issued the order on October 28 while hearing the petition related to Vatika Turning Point, a residential project in Sector 88B.
The court said that the promoter Vatika will also have to pay the loan amount to respective banks in case an allottee has borrowed from bank.
“Since the project has been abandoned by the promoter, the allottees are entitled for the refund of the amount paid by them to the promoter against the allotment of their units with interest at the prescribed rate of 10.25 per cent per annum from the date of each payment till the date of actual realisation within the timelines as prescribed under the rule 16 of the Rules 2017,” said the RERA court.
The court said, “However, while depositing sale consideration of the allotted units, some of the allottees raised loans from the different financial institutions and the same was paid to the promoter.
“While refunding the amount deposited by the allottees who raised loans against the allotted units, the promoter would be liable to pay that amount with interest up to date to those financial institutions and remainder, if any, would be paid back to the allottees.” Vatika Limited had obtained licence from the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) in 2013 to develop group housing project Turning Point.
The court observed, “Though, the due date for completion of the project and offer of possession of the allotted units was mentioned as validity of registration certificate being September 15, 2025, but after expiry of more than four years from the booking there is no physical work progress at the site except for some digging work.” The court also observed that the promoter failed to file quarterly reports giving status of work progress required under section 11 of Act 2016.
So keeping in view all these facts, 28 allottees of the project approached the authority seeking refunds.
The authority directed the enquiry officer to report about the compliances of the obligations by the promoter regarding the project, specifically with regard to 70 per cent of amount collected from allottees minus the proportionate land cost and construction cost whether deposited in a separate RERA account as per requirement of the Act of 2016 and Rule 2017.
The enquiry report mentioned, “There is hardly any progress regarding development such as construction on site.” K K Khandelwal, RERA chairman, said, “Such offences are unacceptable. The promoters cannot take allottees for granted after realising their hard earned money. RERA has to act as per the law and ensure allottees’ money is safe and they get also compensation for mental trouble.” PTI CORR HVA