DLF deposits Rs.100 crore with Supreme Court

Real estate giant DLF Thursday deposited Rs.100 crore with the Supreme Court registry - a part of Rs.630 crore penalty imposed on it by the Competition Commission of India for allegedly exploiting its dominant position to the disadvantage of its customers in three projects in Gurgaon.

Senior counsel Harish Salve, while seeking adjournment of the hearing till Friday, told the apex court bench headed by Justice Anil R. Dave that to establish their bonafide, the firm is depositing Rs.100 crore with the apex court registry.

Salve produced before the court a cheque of Rs.100 crore.

With this, DLF has deposited Rs.150 crore with court registry. Rs.50 crore was deposited by the real estate giant earlier.

The apex court by its Aug 27 order had said that DLF will deposit Rs.50 crore of the Rs.630 crore within three weeks and the balance of Rs.580 crore within three months.

The court had directed the registry to put this amount in a fixed deposit in a nationalised bank.

DLF has assailed the CCI order of Aug 12, 2011, which was sustained by the COMPAT in 2013, saying that the commission could not have imposed penalty based on the three year average of the entire turnover of DLF's real estate operations in the country and contended it should have been restricted to Rs.1,100 crore - the sale price of three housing complexes.

The CCI on the other hand has contended that DLFA used its dominant position to the disadvantage of the flat allottees. "It is an exploitation of disadvantaged customers who were trapped," CCI had told the court on Aug 27.