By Varun Singh

A Mulund-based developer has been accused by MSEDCL of power theft. The Corporation has even gone ahead and registered a police complaint too. The builder has denied any wrongdoing.

In a press note issued by MSEDCL it has pointed out that in a newly constructed building by Nirmal Lifestyle, certain discrepancies were found by the patrolling team.

According to the Discom, they have found a power theft of 1.76 lakh units amounting to Rs 63.23 lakh.

MSEDCL says that the officials of the patrolling team were on a regular visit in Mulund when they visited the society named Zircon constructed by Nirmal Lifestyle.

The Discom states that the officials got some suspicion related to power theft and started investigating it.

During the investigation, they found out that a BMC outgoing switch had a cable joint that was without a meter. This cable was allegedly being used for two years.

MSEDCL then went ahead and registered an official complaint against Nirmal Lifestyle and the society under section 135 of The Electricity Act 2003.

The police are further investigating the matter read the statement issued by Discom.

The Discom had asked the society to make the payment of Rs 63.23 lakh, however, on failure on their part to make the payment a complaint was registered with police on June 4 (copy available with SquareFeatIndia).

The builder has denied the accusations and also is examining the issue legally. A spokesperson for Nirmal said, “We have handed over the premises for the parking lot in the year 2013 and the same is being managed by a parking contactor, who runs the premies in the present scenario. There is no question of any wrongdoing by the society or us and our legal team is examining the issue.”

Also Read: Nirmal Asked To Pay Interest To Homebuyers

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By Varun Singh

Nirmal Lifestyle, a top builder from eastern suburbs, was recently directed by MahaRERA to pay interest to several homebuyers.

Seven homebuyers approached MahaRERA against the builder Nirmal Lifestyle.

The homebuyers claimed that they had booked flats in the project Nirmal Lifestyle-Zircon at Mulund.

The homebuyers claimed that the developer Nirmal Lifestyle failed to hand over the possession of the flats on the agreed dates.

Hence, they homebuyers were seeking interest on their investment for delayed possession under section 18 of RERA.

The developer pleaded not guilty and contented that project is completed and they have applied for Occupation Certificate on June 14, 2019 and it is awaited.

The developer further contended that there was a memorandum of understanding dated July 27, 2018 whereby the complainants agreed to receive monthly rent of Rs 30,00 from December 1, 2017 and the developer had agreed to hand over the possession of the flat on or before June 1, 2018.

Therefore the developer Nirmal Lifestyle contended that the complainants are not entitled to claim interest at the prescribed rate.

The developer further claimed that the project was delayed because the authorities took four years nd three month for according the sanction and DCR 1991 was amended w.e.f. of June 1, 2012, which delayed the project.

The developer further claimed that as per clause 18 of agreement for sale they are entitled to get reasonable extension of time, hence, they requested to dismiss the complaints.

B D Kapadnis, MahaRERA, Member II, said that the parties were governed by MOFA when the agreement were executed.

As per section 8(b) of MOFA, even for the genuine reasons which prevent the promoter from completing the project in time, the period of completion of the project cannot be extended for more than six months.

“It appears that the complainants booked the flat in year 2011. D C Rules have come into effect in the year 2012 and now we are in the year 2021, still the complainants have no received the possession of their booked flats. Hence, I find that even if it is assumed that the respondents were prevented from sufficient causes from completing the project in time, the period of possession cannot be extended beyond the period of six months,” noted Kapadnis, in his order.

In this circumstances, the developer developer were bound to hand over the possession of the flats within the grace period but they have failed to do so, said Kapadnis.

“Hence, in these circumstances, the complainants are entitled to claim interest at prescribed rate on their investments from the agreed dates of possession, under section 18 of RERA.”

B D Kapadnis, Member II, MahaRERA

The homebuyers also informed MahaRERA that they were not even given the rent nor were handed the possession.

Finally Kapadnis ordered, that the builder shall pay simple interest at the rate of 9% to the homebuyers on consideration amounts paid on or before the dates of possession, till the handing over the possession of the flats with agreed amenities and the occupation certificate.

The developer was also directed to pay each complainant Rs 20,000 towards the cost of the complaint.

The parties are at liberty to adjust their respective current claims and pay the balance to whom it is due.

Also Read: Not Cancelling Flat On Time, Proves Costly For Nirmal

The post Nirmal Asked To Pay Interest To Homebuyers appeared first on Square Feat India.

By Varun Singh

Homebuyers Vivek Shinde and Yojana Shinde, had booked a flat in Nirmal Lifestyle Blu Diamond, Mumbai.

Nirmal Lifestyle executed the agreement for sale in favour of the homebuyers in March 2003, but didn’t mention the date of possession

The homebuyers then informed MahaRERA that in a letter to the bank, the developer informed date of possession as March 2006.

The homebuyers were seeking interest for the possession of the flat for which they had already paid Rs 28.17 lakh.

Nirmal Lifestyle contented that, they had first received the commencement certificate in 2002, but in 2004 an 2005, circulars from the department for Forest and Revenue by which the project land was declared private forest.

Thus construction activities stopped until Supreme Court issued an order in January 2014.

The developer thus contended that the construction activites stopped since 2006. The builder also mentioned that the nationwide lockdown since March 2020, causing shortage of labour and material and hence further impacting the construction activity. The developer informed that the project would be completed by December 2021.

Nirmal Lifestyle thus contended that it was prevented by sufficient causes beyond its control, from completing the project as per timeline.

MahaRERA noticed that there was no dispute that the developer hadn’t mentioned the date of possession in the agreement.

As per MOFA and RERA it is obligatory to mention the date of possession in the agreement.

MahaRERA even noticed in the order that the developer hadn’t taken any steps to rectify the agreement even after RERA coming into force.

Dr B D Kapadnis, Member II, MahaRERA, who was hearing the matter noted that the developer had violated section 13(2) of RERA.

Kapadnis then quoted a Supreme Court order, where the Supreme Court in the case of Fortune Infrastructure Vs Trivor D’Lima had held that in agreement were date of possession wasn’t mentioned the reasonable date of possession is only three years.

Thus in this case, MahaRERA noted that the possession was due on March 2006, even as per MOFA the possession date cannot be extended beyond six months even if the project wad delayed for reasons beyond the control of the developer.

Kapadnis in his order mentioned that, therefore the liability to pay interest to the homebuyer by the developer starts from September 2006.

Nirmal Lifestyle was ordered to pay interest on the amount paid by the homebuyer at 9% per annum till handing over of the possession of the flat.

The developer was also asked to pay Rs 20,000 to the homebuyers towards cost of the complaint.

The developer was also asked by MahaRERA to handover the possession of the flat at the earliest but not later than December 2021, with agreed amenities and occupancy certificate.

Also Read: Real Estate History Created: Sales Surpass 10K

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By Varun Singh

A homebuyer had asked Nirmal Developers to cancel his booking on February 18, 2017. He wanted to withdraw as the construction, then didn’t make any progress.

Instead of cancelling, Dharmesh Jain led Nirmal Developers sent the homebuyer a letter on November 24, 2017.

The letter sent by Nirmal Developers, stated, that they were tying up with Shapoorji Pallonji. They gave the homebuyer the option to withdraw from the project within 15 days.

Homebuyer Nandkishor Mane approached MahaRERA later, seeking refund of his amount paid along with interest.

According to the complaint, Mane booked an apartment in Nirmal Developers, Mulund Project Nirmal Olympia for Rs 76.47 lakh.

The developer even issued an allotment letter dated March 16, 2014 to Mane. Homebuyer paid Rs 18.08 lakh to the developer.

Mane alleged that the developer didn’t execute the agreement but had promised possession by December 2017. He also claimed that the construction didn’t make any progress and hence, he cancelled the booking.

The developer didn’t pay him and hence he approached MahaRERA seeking relief.

Nirmal Developer, said that MahaRERA had no jurisdiction over the case. They claimed the homebuyer cancelled the flat in February 2017, which was before RERA came into force. (MahaRERA came into force from May 2017.)

Based on this they asked the authority to dismiss the case.

But B D Kapandis, Member II, MahaRERA while passing the order, noted that Mane did send cancellation notice in February 2017. But the builder did not act upon it and also didn’t refund the amount.

“They (builder) have not accepted the cancellation. On the Contrary sought the consent of the homebuyer for tie-up with Shapoorji Pallonji in November 2017,” noted the order.

This point became crucial in the entire hearing. Also Kapadnis noted, that the date of possession of December 2017 was not kept by the builder.

Finally Kapadnis ordered Nirmal Developers to refund Mane Rs 18.08 lakh with 9% interest from the date of receipt of amount till refund.

The order dated September 2, also asked the builder to pay the homebuyer Rs 20,000 towards cost of complaint.

The charge of the amount till satisfied shall remain on the booked flat by the homebuyer. The payment shall be subject to the period of moratorium.

Also Read: Revenue From Property Registration Falls In August

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By Varun Singh

Once, Nirmal was the king of Mulund’s Real Estate. Projects by this builder sold at a premium too, because of the name. However, today a prime land belonging to the Real Estate firm is on the verge of being auctioned.

According to Adv Sanjay Chaturvedi, who is fighting for the home buyers, around 110 home buyers in the case of Nirmal Lifestyle’s project will be benefit.

A land parcel located on Mulund’s NS Road has to be auctioned by the collector’s office of Mumbai Suburbs. The Tahsildar office of Kurla, Mulund zone is the one who shall be taking action on the MahaRERA order .

The tahsildar offie had written to the district stamp duty collectors office, Kurla seeking their assistance in finding out the cost of the land.

Square Feat India is in possession of a letter dated January 4. 2020 written by the district stamp duty collector’s office to the tahsildar office.

According to the letter, in three cases the office of the tahsildar has to recover Rs 23.89 crore from Nirmal Developers, Dharmesh Jain. To recover the money, the office has to auction a land located in Mulund that measures 2597.40 sq Mts located at Jawahar Talkies Compound, NS Road, Mulund West.

To know the exact valuation of the property, the tahsildar office had written to the collector of stamp duty. The letter states that, according to the stamp duty office, the valuation of the property comes to Rs 40.25 crore.

Chaturvedi says, “To reach here, the home buyers had fought a long battle and with this auction the money of hundreds of home buyers shall be refunded.”

A source close to Dharmesh Jain blamed the slowdown in the real estate market as the reason for the mess. However, when contacted Jain, he sought time to come back, but failed to do so, even after two days.

Jain the former President of the apex real estate body CREDAI-MCHI has several complaints against his real estate company in MahaRERA. Of which in many cases, the developer has been asked to refund the money along with the cost of the complaints to home buyers.

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