AI Structured Summary
Not yet generated for this judgment
Judgment
V.K. Jain, J
On 11.6.2016, the respondents/complainants submitted their respective individual applications to the petitioner for registration in respect of a residential scheme called "Ananta" which the petitioner was to develop at Jagarpura, Tonk Road, Jaipur and deposited registration money of Rs.11,000/- each. At that time, the petitioner did not have approval to develop the proposed project. All the registrations were cancelled on 15.3.2017 on the cancellation requests made by the concerned registrants. However, the registration money paid by them was not refunded on the ground that they were not eligible for refund of the said amount. Being aggrieved, the complainants/respondents approached the concerned District Forum by way of separate consumer complaints, seeking return of the amount paid by them with compensation etc.
The complaint was resisted by the petitioner which interalia stated in its reply that it had not abandoned the project and as per the terms of registration, the complainants were not entitled to any refund.
The District Forum having allowed the consumer complaints and having directed the petitioner to refund the registration money with interest @ 9% p.a. and compensation quantified at Rs.10,000/- in each case, the petitioner approached the concerned State Commission by way of separate appeals. The said appeals also having been dismissed, the petitioner is before this Commission.
The learned counsel for the petitioner has drawn my attention to the clause 13, 14, 15 and 20 of the registration application, which read as under:-
"13. The applicant unconditionally agrees that in case of default in payment of any of the installment for more than 30 days from the due date, the application for booking of unit shall be liable to be cancelled at the sole discretion of the Promoters & Developers. In case of cancellation, the deposit amount shall be refunded after deducting the following charges on account of cancellation.
Deduction within 30 days from the date of Registration - Entire Booking amount 11000/-
Deduction after 30 days from the date of confirmation of booking - 10% of the total sale consideration and administrative and file handling charges of Rs.25000.
It is made clear that the plans of the project are under process of approval with the competent authority.
The Promoters and Developers will be liable to make refund of registration amount with other payments made by applicant with interest (at bank interest rate) if project is abandoned by them for any reason.
The registration amount received from the qualified applicants along with the registration form shall not be refunded back and amount shall not be refunded back and amount shall be refunded to disqualified applicant."
The submission of the learned counsel is that since the complainants were qualified candidates and they had sought cancellation of the registration, they were not entitled to refund in view of clause 13 & 20 of the registration application as only unqualified registrants were entitled to the refund. On a careful perusal of clause 13 of the registration application, I find that the said clause would apply only in case installments were demanded and there was default on the part of the allottees in making payment of the said installments. Admittedly, no installment was demanded from the complainants before they applied for cancellation of the registration. Clause 13 of the registration application, in my opinion, was not applicable in their case.
The complainants got themselves registered with the petitioner in June, 2016 and waited for at least eight months before seeking cancellation of the registration. Since the petitioner admittedly had not been able to obtain approval for the proposed project even within eight months of the registration, the complainants, in my opinion, were entitled to seek refund of the amount which they had paid at registration money to the petitioner. The petitioner having failed to refund the said amount, the concurrent orders passed by the Fora below do not require any interference by this Commission in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction. The revision petitions being devoid of any merit are hereby dismissed.