Before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Rohtak.
Complaint No. : 100.
Instituted on : 26.02.2019.
Decided on : 21.07.2020.
Smt.Aprajita w/o Sh. Sanjay Hooda r/o H.No.1201-P, Sector-3, Rohtak.
………..Complainant.
Vs.
Haryana Shahri Vikas Pardhrikaran(HSVP earlier known as HUDA) Rohtak through its Estate Officer, having its office at Sonepat Road, Rohtak.
……….Opposite party.
COMPLAINT U/S 12 OF CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT,1986.
BEFORE: SH.NAGENDER SINGH KADIAN, PRESIDENT.
DR. RENU CHAUDHARY, MEMBER.
MS. TRIPTI PANNU, MEMBER.
Present: Sh.Rajesh Sharma, Advocate for the complainant.
Sh.R.K.Sapra, Advocate for opposite parties.
ORDER
NAGENDER SINGH KADIAN, PRESIDENT:
1. Present complaint has been filed by the complainant with the averments that complainant is owner of a house constructed over plot no.1201-P, Sector-3, Rohtak. After completion of the construction, the complainant applied for the completion certificate before the respondent vide application no.2296 dated 08.04.2009. At that time, she was told that the completion certificate will be issued only after deposit of an amount of Rs.49677/- out of which an amount of Rs.48032/- on account of compounding fee and Rs.1645/- is due towards extension fee. Complainant deposited the same and after receipt of same, opposite party issued occupation certificate vide memo no.6947 dated 17.07.2009. The complainant received the occupation certificate on 30.07.2012. Opposite party demanded the amount of Rs.100371/- on account of enhance amount in the year 2017. As per the scheme launched by the opposite party, if an allottee pays the amount of the enhancement amount within stipulated period, a rebate of 37½ should be granted to him. The complainant applied for availing the rebate and applied for deposit of enhancement amount. But when her account was login for payment, an amount of approx. Rs.7000/- was shown to be outstanding and the complainant was asked to deposit Rs.4894/- only in HDFC bank. The complainant deposited the alleged amount of Rs.4894/- on 13.11.2018 and the enhancement amount is shown as Nil on online account of the complainant. But when complainant login her account to know the status, she was shocked to know that an amount of Rs.45032/- is shown outstanding on account of compounding fee and Rs.104363/- on account of extension fee and Rs.10203/- on account of surcharge on extension fee and the amount of enhancement is shown as (-) Rs.20075/- and in this way a total amount of Rs.159878/- is shown to be outstanding in the account of the complainant. The complainant enquired the same from the opposite party and it was disclosed that an amount of Rs.49677/- has been shown deposited twice in her account in lieu of amount of enhancement. The complainant made request to the opposite party to make necessary correction in their record as she had already deposited the aforesaid amount of Rs.49677/- on account of extension fee as well as compounding fee as reflected in the occupation certificate and receipt but the respondent failed to do the needful. The act of opposite party is illegal and amounts to deficiency in service. Hence this complaint and it is prayed that opposite party may kindly be directed to adjust the amount of Rs.49677/-, to withdraw the amount of Rs.267032/- imposed upon the complainant on account of extension fee and compounding fee and also to pay compensation of Rs.100000/- and Rs.22000/- as litigation expenses to the complainant as explained in relief clause.
2. After registration of complaint, notice was issued to the opposite party. Opposite party in its reply has submitted that it is matter of record that complainant has applied for completion certificate vide application No.2296 dated 08.04.2009. After submitting the application for issuance of completion certificate, the completion was compounded by the then Administrator, HUDA but due to non deposit of compounding fees and for having no signatures on the attached affidavit and other documents with the application, the completion certificate could not be issued. The complainant/allottee of the plot was duly intimated about the same vide letter bearing no.6974 dated 17.07.2009. But despite issuance of the said intimation letter dated 17.07.2009 and its acknowledgement, has not come forward to deposit the compounding fees and to complete the other formalities including the signatures on the requisite papers/documents and only deposited the fees on 09.07.2012. As soon as the compounding fee was deposited by the complainant/allottee, the completion certificate was issued to her vide letter No.6890 dated 30.07.2012. The proceeding pertaining to the balance amount to be paid by the complainant with regard to the above said plot are going on as the complainant has deposited the compounding fee at the belated stage. Since the upgradation of PPM is going on, as such the details of the said amount cannot be disclosed at this juncture and as soon as the said upgradation will become final the details of the amount to be recovered from the complainant shall be disclosed. By this time the amount of Rs.100371/- were lying outstanding and the same were required to be paid by the complainant for which the notice was issued to the complainant. As the amount of Rs.100371/- was lying outstanding so there was no occasion for the complainant to have deposited Rs.4894/-. The amount of Rs.159878/- was rightly shown against the said plot to be recovered from the complainant. The complaint herself is well aware that she had not deposited the amount which was required to be deposited at her end. There was no occasion for the officials of the answering respondent to disclose or to say that the amount of Rs.49677/- has been shown deposited in the account of the complainant or making the request by the complainant to the opposite party as alleged. The complainant is liable to pay the amount as is being claimed by the respondent/opposite party as she has not deposited the complete amount. She is under obligation to deposit the balance amount to get the said account clear. There is no deficiency in service on the part of opposite party and dismissal of complaint has been sought.
3. Both the parties led evidence in support of their case.
4. Ld. Counsel for the complainant in his evidence has tendered affidavits Ex.CW1/A, documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C7 and closed his evidence on dated 16.09.2019. On the other hand, ld. Counsel for the opposite party has tendered affidavit Ex.R1/A and closed his evidence on 03.12.2019.
5. We have heard ld. counsel for the parties and have gone through material aspects of the case very carefully.
6. After going through the file and hearing the parties it is observed that opposite parties issued a letter to the complainant Ex.C4 dated 17.07.2009 to deposit the amount of Rs.49677/- i.e. Rs.48032/- on account of compounding fee and Rs.1645/- on account of extension fee and the same was deposited by the complainant on dated 09.07.2012. But the contention of the complainant is that despite depositing the alleged amount, opposite party is demanding the extension fee, compounding fee and surcharge etc. from the complainant, which is illegal. At the time of arguments, on dated 09.07.2020, an application was moved by the complainant for additional evidence, which was allowed and the complainant had placed on record two documents i.e. Occupation Certificate Ex.C8 and Allottee Account Statement as Ex.C9. Perusal of the complaint, written statement and all the relevant documents shows that complainant was allottee of plot No.H.No.1201-P, Sector -3, Rohtak and after completion of construction, complainant applied for completion certificate. A letter ExC4 was issued on 17.07.2009 for depositing the compounding fee of Rs.48032/- and other dues/balance Rs.1645/- and total amount Rs.49677/- and the complainant had deposited the alleged amount of Rs.49677/- on dated 09.07.2012 vide receipt no.1201 with the respondent officials. The receipt has been issued by the department which is placed on record as Ex.C1. After that the respondent officials issued occupation certificate in the name of complainant vide memo no.6890 dated 30.07.2012 and granted permission of occupation of the building ground floor plus first floor and this information has been forwarded to the concerned officials. The description of the building has also been mentioned in this letter. Meaning thereby the respondent officials issued occupation certificate after receiving all the penalties, compounding fee etc. from the complainant. The case of the complainant is that the respondent officials demanded an enhancement amount of Rs.100371/- from the complainant. It is also pleaded that, if the plot holder/allottee pay the enhanced amount within the stipulated period, a rebate of 37.5% was to be granted to the allottee/plotholder. The complainant approached in the office of respondent and applied for availing the rebate and also disclosed all the facts before the respondent officials. Thereafter the complainant login her online account and found that the department has shown that an amount of approx.Rs.7000/- is outstanding and after making the rebate of 37.5%, complainant was asked to deposit Rs.4894/- by the online system and after that a challan was provided to the complainant by the office of respondent. The complainant deposited an amount of Rs.4894/- on dated 13.11.2018.Thereafter in the online account of the complainant, enhancement amount is shown as Nil.
7. We have perused the allottee account statement Ex.C9 having 6 pages which has been issued by the department. As per the complainant he had deposited an amount of Rs.49677/- onlyon dated 09.07.2012 whereas the perusal of allottee account statement page no.4 shows that the complainant has deposited an amount of Rs.49677/- dated 09.07.2012 and again he had deposted Rs.49677/- on dated 10.07.2012 and on the payment head ENHAN(enhancement) has been mentioned. We have found that in one hand the complainant has stated that he had deposited an amount of Rs.49677/- on dated 09.07.2012 against the compounding fee and extention fee and on the other hand, the department has stated that the complainant has deposited the amount twice i.e on 09.07.12 and 10.07.12. At the time of arguments, the complainant has stated that he has only deposited the amount on 09.07.2012 and not on dated 10.07.2012. Meaning thereby the complainant has pleaded her complaint honestly and has not taken the benefit of the mistake of the respondent officials and came to this Forum(now Commission) with clean hands. The perusal of these entries, it is clear that the respondent officials have not maintained the account of the complainant with due care and a wrong entry has been made by the respondent officials in the account of complainant.
8. Now one more thing is clear from the perusal of the documents that the complainant had only deposited the compounding fee and extension fee on dated 09.07.2012 and the perusal of the Allottee Account Statement Ex.C9 shows that this amount of Rs.49677/- has been converted by the respondent officials in enhancement amount deposited by the complainant. The department at its own sweet will and for their own convenience, changed the account head from compounding to enhancement. It is very strange that initially the enhancement was demanded by the department in the year of 2017-18 and the Govt. launched a scheme for the payment of enhance amount. Meaning thereby in the year of 2012, no enhancement has been demanded by the respondent officials and the respondent has wrongly pleaded the compounding fee into enhancement account. It is further perused that a screen shot was also placed on record as Ex.C6 which shows that nothing is due against the complainant. On the other hand, except the affidavit, opposite party has not placed on record any document/details of amount to be recovered from the complainant. As such the demand of extension fee and compounding fee from the complainant is illegal and amounts to deficiency in service.
9. In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, we hereby allow the complaint and direct the opposite party as under:-
- An amount of Rs.49677/- deposited by the complainant on dated 09.07.2012 be treated as compounding fee and extention fee and to adjust the alleged amount in the same head i.e. compounding fee and extension fee and to issue a fresh account statement after rectification of the same to the complainant within 30 days.
- To delete the wrong entry made by the department dated 10.07.2012, which is shown twice by the department.
- If any enhancement amount is due against the complainant, the same be recovered from the complainant without interest, surcharge and penalty, after giving a rebate of 37.5% to the complainant and the amount deposited by the complainant against enhancement be adjusted in this head.
- Opposite party is further directed to pay a sum of Rs.25000/-(Rupees twenty five thousand only) on account of deficiency in service and Rs.5000/-(Rupees five thousand only) as litigation expenses to the complainant within one month from the date of decision.
10. Copy of this order be supplied to both the parties free of costs. File be consigned to the record room after due compliance.
Announced in open court:
21.07.2020.
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Nagender Singh Kadian, President
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Renu Chaudhary, Member.
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Tripti Pannu, Member.
