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Judgment
Ld. Counsel for Complainant Mansan Builders Pvt. Ltd., bulk allottee, of 598 shops in their project Sarojini Down Town appeared before us and made mention that M/s NBCC (India) has issued them a letter dated 08.04.2026 cancelling the allotment of 336 units for the reasons mentioned therein contrary to the provision of Notice Inviting Tenders (NIT).
Ld. Counsel argued that as per Clause 13.0 of Notice Inviting Tenders (NIT) following is provided
13.0 misrepresentation/fraud/breach of terms and conditions:
“if it is discovered at any point of time that the Allottee/buyer has purchased the Unit by suppression of any material factor misrepresentation or fraud, NBCC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel the allotment and/or revoke the Sale and the EMD and other amounts paid by the Allotte/buyer shall be forfeited. NBCC shall also be entitled to take over possession of the Unit from the Allottee/buyer. In such an event, the Allottee/buyer will not be entitled to any compensation what so ever, or refund of any EMD or any other amount paid by him and NBCC as its sole discretion shall re-sell/re-allot the Unit”
He further stated that delay in payments asper Clause 1.3 of NIT is to be dealt as follows:
1.3 Default Rate:
“ The default rate shall mean the rate of Interest payable by developer and/or allottees in case of default of any provision of the agreement. The interest at this rate shall be payable to the other party that is non-defaulting party for a particular provision worked out as simple rate of interest for delayed period only and it shall be the State Bank of India’s highest Marginal Cost of Funds based lending rates plus 2%. Provided that in case the State Bank of India’s Marginal Cost of Funds based lending rates is not in use it would be replaced by such benchmark landing rates which the State Bank of India may fix from time to time for lending to the general public.”
He added that Clause 16 which reads as follows explain the consequences of termination or booking/allotment but does not specify the grounds on which termination/cancellation of booking allotment can be done.
16.0 Termination/Cancellation of Booking/Allotment
“The proposed project is a Government of India’s re-development project. As such sudden cancellation of booking/allotment may threaten the project in its entirety. Therefore, upon such termination/cancellation of allotment, the amount paid by the Allottee shall be refunded without any interest and after deduction of the forfeiture/cancellation amounts as mentioned below:
i) Termination/cancellation of booking due to Non-payment of 10% within 15 days of closing of e-auction Entire EMD shall be forfeited ii) Withdrawal/Termination/cancellation of
allotment after payment up to 10%
10% of the final/successful bid price shall be forfeited+ taxes as applicable if any iii) Withdrawal/Termination/cancellation of allotment after payment of more than 10% 10% of the total sale consideration amount shall be forfeited+ taxes + interest as applicable if any as per Sale Agreement. The refund to the Allottee/buyer, after deductions as provided for, shall be made within 60 days from the date of withdrawal/cancellation by sending a cheque/DD/RTGS in the name of Allottee/buyer at the registered postal address only. It is further clarified that no claims for any damages shall be tenable in the event of cancellation of the allotment and NBCC shall proceed with resale of Unit as its sole discretion.”
Ld. Counsel requested that the Authority to direct NBCC (they being the Allottee and NBCC being the Promoter) to maintain status quo. The Authority notes that NBCC Sarojini Nagar Down Town project is registered with it and the fact that it has one suo-moto case and one complaint case relating to allotment of shops is pending.
Per Mr. Devesh Singh, Member
I note that this Authority has already issued a Show Cause to M/s NBCC (India) Ltd. for sale of units in the said Real Estate project through M/s Mansan Builders Pvt. Ltd. (the Complainant herein), is examining whether such sales by M/s NBCC (India) Ltd. and/or M/s Mansan Builders Pvt. Ltd. are in violation of provisions of the RE(RD) Act, 2016, and has reserved the matter for orders.
I note that in the Cancellation Letter of M/s NBCC (India) Ltd. dated 08.04.2026 it has been mentioned that allottee M/s Mansan Builders Pvt. Ltd. have not only failed to deposit the outstanding dues but have also failed to honor the commitments made in their Undertaking dated 06.05.2025. Therefore in the light of the persistent breaches, and non-compliance with NBCC’s directives to rectify the breaches, NBCC on behalf of MOHUA has invoked Clause 16 of the terms & conditions of sale read with Clause 8.3 of the Agreement for Sale and other binding documents, which permits withdrawal/cancellation/termination of the contract between the parties with immediate effect and necessary consequential actions. Further, M/s NBCC (India) Ltd. has withdrawn/cancelled/terminated contract for 336 unsold units on account of breaches/defaults M/s Mansan Builders Pvt. Ltd. with effect from 08.04.2026. It is a matter of civil rights between the parties relating to a private contract between them.
M/s NBCC (India) Ltd. have cancelled allotment made to M/s Mansan Builders Pvt. Ltd. for breaches in terms and conditions of sale which may be resulting in violation of the provisions of the RE(RD) Act, 2016. The units are unsold by the bulk allottee M/s Mansan Builders Pvt. Ltd. and therefore no homebuyer would be affected by action of M/s NBCC (India) Ltd.
I also note that Clause 16 of the terms and conditions of the sale give M/s NBCC (India) Ltd. the powers terminate/cancel the booking/allotment and also prescribes that the refund be made to the allottee without interest and after deduction of the forfeiture/cancellation amount as mentioned in the said Clause. However, Clause 13 goes further and authorizes M/s NBCC (India) Ltd. to cancel the allotment even without refunding any amount whatsoever in case the allottee has purchased the unit through misrepresentation/fraud/breach of terms and conditions. M/s NBCC (India) Ltd. may forfeit the EMD and other amounts paid by the allottee in such circumstances.
In view of all above, I am of the considered opinion that the order of cancellation/termination of the contract dated 08.04.2026 issued by M/s NBCC (India) Ltd. need not be interfered with without giving an opportunity to the Respondents M/s NBCC (India) Ltd. to clarify reasons for cancellation. A decision regarding grant of status quo may be taken by the Authority thereafter.
For reasons cited above, I hereby reject the request of the Complainant to direct NBCC to maintain the status quo.
Copy of complaint may be furnished to M/s NBCC to file their reply within ten days. Matter be re-listed after ten days for hearing both the parties.
During proceedings today, I have also consulted Hon’ble Chairman on the matter, who is of the opinion that status quo order should be granted. I have respectful disagreement with him for reasons cited above. It may also be pointed out that in case of split verdict during quasi-judicial enquiry proceedings, a view may not be enforced till a majority/appellate view emerges.
Per Mr. Anand Kumar, Chairman:
I am of the considered view that status quo should be maintained by both the parties till the next date of hearing as cancellation of units allotted is a serious matter and should be guided by the provisions of Agreement for sale etc. In the interest of project, I would like to give an earlier date for hearing. I would like to direct office to hand deliver the copy of the petition filed by M/s Manso Builders Pvt. Ltd., the bulk allottee in this case, to the Respondents for filing reply before next date of hearing.
In view of the above, I hereby order that a status quo should be maintained by both the parties till the next date of hearing and office to issue a notice of complaint to NBCC through special messenger for submitting reply before the next date of hearing and also appear before this Authority on that date.
Re-list the case on 17.04.2026 at 2:30 pm.