Pay 9% interest to flat buyers in Panchkula, SC tells DLF

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered real estate giant DLF to pay 9 per cent interest to 50 buyers for the delay in handing over possession of flats in Haryana's Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh.

A bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice C. Nagappan ordered the payment of interest on the amount paid by the flat buyers from three years after the signing of an agreement till the date of possession. The possession of flats was supposed to be given in 2013.

The court order came after senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for DLF, told it that the possession of 1,320 of the 1,473 flats had already been given and that the possession of the remaining 153 flats will be given by November 30.

The court modified a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission order of June 6 for the payment of 12 per cent interest to the buyers for the delay.

However, the court said, failure on part of the realty giant will bring back the compensation provision under the agreement.

The commission had ordered the DLF to pay 12 per cent interest from the expiry of three years from the date of agreement till possession, besides a penalty of Rs 5,000 per day in case of further delay.

In another case, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to modify its earlier direction to builder Parsvnath Buildwell to return the money paid by 70 flat buyers in its Parsvnath Exotica project in Ghaziabad.

Unmoved by the builder's plea, the court made some corrections in its August 12 order, recording that instead of 17 flat owners, there are 70 flat owners seeking a refund.

--IANS

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