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Judgment
The petitioners/complainants purchased houses from the respondent Moradabad Development Authority in an open auction. Part payment was made by them to the respondent and the balance amount was payable in four quarterly installments. The price of the houses was later increased by the respondent.
The District Administration started constructing a Post Mortem House in front of the residential colony in which the houses purchased by the complainants were situated. A PIL was filed in the Hon''ble High Court of Allahabad challenging the construction of the Post Mortem House. The High Court noted that the construction of the Post Mortem House had been started without permission from the development authority as was required under the Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973 and directed the Vice-Chairman of Moradabad Development Authority to take appropriate action in accordance with law. The case of the petitioners is that the project for construction of the Post Mortem House was then abandoned by the District Administration.
Since the complainants/petitioners did not make payment of the installments in terms of the agreement with the respondent, an additional demand on account of interest was raised. The complainants challenged the aforesaid demand before the District Forum by way of separate consumer complaints. The additional demand on account of increase in the price of the houses was also challenged.
The complaint was resisted by the respondent. The District Forum vide its order dated 09.08.2016, quashed the demand of interest for delayed payment of installments but refused to interfere with the demand on account of interest in the price of the house. The petitioners/complainants did not challenge the order passed by the District Forum but the respondent Moradabad Development Authority filed separate appeals challenging the aforesaid order to the extent the demand of interest was quashed. The State Commission vide impugned order dated 04.01.2017, set aside the order passed by the District Forum and consequently dismissed the complaints. Being aggrieved, the complainants/petitioners are before this Commission.
The only issue involved in this matter is as to whether the demand of interest due to delay in payment of the installments was justified or not. It is not in dispute that the petitioners/complainants did not make payment of the installments within the time agreed by them with Moradabad Development Authority. The case set up by the petitioners/complainants is that since construction of Post Mortem House had started in front of their colony, they did not pay the installments otherwise payable to the respondents. In my view, the petitioners/complainants were not entitled to delay the payment of the installments on the ground that the construction of Post Mortem House in front of their colony was started by the District Administration. It must necessarily be kept in mind that the District Administration forms part of the Government and is not a part of the respondent Moradabad Development Authority which is an independent legal entity. In any case, if the petitioners/complainants were aggrieved on account of the attempt to construct the Post Mortem House in front of their colony, they could have availed such remedy as was open to them in law against the District Administration which had started the said construction, but they could not have delayed the payment of the installments payable to the respondent Moradabad Development Authority. They were not deprived of the use of the houses due to attempted construction of the Post Mortem House. The petitioners/complainants kept on using the money which they ought to have paid to the respondent Moradabad Development Authority, thereby causing loss to the said authority on account of its having been deprived of the utilization of the said amount despite having already delivered possession of the houses to the complainants.
For the reasons stated hereinabove, I find no ground to interfere with the view taken by the State Commission. The revision petitions, being devoid of any merits, are dismissed without any order as to costs. The petitioners/complainants are entitled in law to avail such remedy, if any, open to them in law against the District Administration on account of the attempted construction of the Post Mortem House in front of their colony.