The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) to refund almost Rs 49 lakh to a plot allottee in the Surya Enclave Extension along with 9 per cent annual interest after holding the trust guilty of deficiency in service for failing to supply possession of the plot with basic amenities despite receiving the entire payment.
The refund together with accumulated interest is likely to cost the trust approximately Rs 1.2 crore. The commission also directed it to pay Rs 30,000 as compensation for mental agony and harassment and Rs 10,000 towards litigation expenses.
The grievance was registered by Yogesh Kapoor, a resident of Guru Gobind Singh Avenue, who had booked a 250-square yard plot under the JIT's Surya Enclave development programme in 2011. He was allotted the plot in December 2013 and the allotment letter was issued in June 2014.
According to the grievance, the trust had promised him that the development work would be completed within two-and-a-half years. Kapoor ultimately paid the whole sale consideration of Rs 48.99 lakh including installments, cess and other charges.
However, in spite of receiving the full payment, the trust could not develop the region and deliver physical possession of the plot despite repeated requests. Highlighting the grim picture of the plot, the complainant mentioned the absence of motorable roads, incomplete water supply and sewerage connections, lack of electricity infrastructure and waterlogging during the rainy season. Amid glaring negligences, the zone turned into a dumping ground, he added.
The trust maintained that it had offered possession to Kapoor in May 2017 but he had did not manage to take it in its defence. It denied any deficiency in service and asserted that basic facilities, including roads, streetlights, water supply and sewerage, were available at the site.
Rejecting the trust's argument, the commission observed that Kapoor had repeatedly approached the authorities seeking possession after completion of the development work. It noted that photographs, newspaper reports and correspondence submitted by the complainant and the Surya Enclave Extension Welfare Association revealed that development work and basic facilities stayed incomplete at the site.
The commission also noted that the trust had did not manage to produce a completion certificate under Section 14 of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995, to set up that the project and its basic facilities had been completed.
The trust has been directed to comply with the order within 45 days of receiving a copy. The failure to do so will attract an additional 3 per cent annual interest on the deposited plot sum.
