Date of Filing : 12.05.2011
Date of Order : 30.09.2011
BEFORE THE II ADDITIONAL DISTRICT CONSUMER
DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM,
SESHADRIPURAM, BANGALORE – 560 020
Dated 30th SEPTEMBER 2011
PRESENT
Sri. S.S. NAGARALE, B.A., LL.B. (SPL) …. President
Smt. D. LEELAVATHI, M.A., LL.B. …. Member
Sri. BALAKRISHNA V. MASALI, B.A., LL.B.(SPL) …. Member
COMPLAINT NO. 914 / 2011
Sri. Saurabh Gupta,
Aged about 34 years,
S/o. Sri. V.K. Gupta,
R/at: No. 3006, Nandi Deepa Apartments,
Doddakamanahalli,
SOS Village P.O., Off Bannerghatta Road,
Bangalore – 560 076. ……. Complainant
V/s.
M/s. Apna Sapna,
A Registered Partnership Firm
Having its Office at No. 65-67,
1st Floor, Sri Sadguru Complex,
Opp. IIM, Bannerghatta Road,
Bangalore – 560 076.
Rep. by its Managing Partner
Sri. Sunil Baberwal …… Opposite Party
ORDER
(By the President Sri. S.S. Nagarale)
This Complaint is filed by the Complainant u/s. 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Brief facts of the case are that Complainant has paid total amount of Rs.5,50,000/- towards sital value. On the date of making payment, OP undertook and assured the Complainant that in case Complainant cancels the booking of site OP shall refund advance amount with interest @ 10% P.A. within one week on receipt of the cancellation letter. There is no progress in formation of layout and OP kept on postponing the same. Complainant got doubt about the sincerity of the OP. OP has not started the process of formation of layout even after 2 ½ years from the date of advance. Complainant cancelled the booking of site on 06.09.2009 and requested the OP to refund the advance amount with interest @ 10% P.A. OP simply kept quite and did not refund the amount for a long time. Finally, OP refunded the principal amount of Rs.5,50,000/- in several installments and finally refund was made on 25.05.2010. OP kept on postponing to pay the interest amount. Whenever the Complainant asked for the interest, OP kept on telling that it will be given within 4-5 months. Complainant has gone into lot of mental agony and hardship. OP is bound to pay the interest @ 10% P.A. on the principal amount from the month of March 2007 to May 2010. Therefore, Complainant has prayed that OP be directed to pay interest of Rs.1,74,166/- calculated from March 2007 to May 2010 @ 10% P.A. He has also claimed Rs.2.00 Lakhs as compensation for the mental agony.
2. OP has filed version admitting that the Complainant had booked site measuring 30’x50’ to be formed in the proposed project of the OP and paid an advance amount of Rs.5,50,000/-. OP has taken defence that advance of Rs.5,50,000/- has been paid to the Complainant since he has cancelled the booking. Complainant is entitled only for refund of principal amount and not interest. As per terms & conditions of the booking, applicant is entitled for interest only if the full payment of the site is made. Due to global recession, there was drastic fall down in the real estate business in and around Bangalore. OP has prayed to dismiss the Complaint.
3. I have gone through the pleadings of the parties, affidavit evidence and the documents. Arguments are heard.
4. Points for consideration are as under:
(1) Whether the Complainant is entitled for interest claimed by him?
(2) Whether the Complainant is entitled for compensation amount for mental agony?
(3) What order and relief?
5. It is admitted case of the parties that Complainant has paid an advance amount of Rs.5,50,000/- towards booking of site. Complainant has paid Rs.50,000/- on 21.02.2007. To that effect, there is a Receipt issued by the OP. Another sum of Rs.5,00,000/- was paid by the Complainant on 28.03.2007 to the OP for which OP has passed Receipt. Complainant waited for more than 2 years since. OP failed to start the process of formation of layout as per their promise. Therefore, Complainant cancelled booking of site and requested the OP to refund the advance amount with interest. Complainant has made several e-mail correspondences to the OP demanding refund of amount with interest. Ultimately, OP refunded principal amount of Rs.5,50,000/- in several installments and finally payment was made on 27.05.2010. In this way, OP refunded the entire principal amount of Rs.5,50,000/- to the Complainant. OP has not paid interest amount. Complainant is claiming interest @ 10% P.A. on the principal amount. It is the case of the complainant that OP had agreed to pay interest on cancellation of booking. So, under these circumstances, OP shall have to be ordered to pay interest. Complainant has invested his hard earned money with the OP. The OP having utilized the amount for his purpose, he is bound to pay the interest on refund amount. Had the Complainant invested the money in any Bank or any financial institution, he could have definitely got the interest on his amount. Denying of interest to the Complainant amounts to injustice and financial loss. Therefore, it is just, fair & reasonable to order the OP to pay interest as claimed by the Complainant. Complainant has claimed interest @ 10% simple interest per annum which is just, quite and reasonable rate of interest. OP has taken defence that he is able to pay interest only in such cases wherein entire sital value was paid by the members. There are no such documents or agreement between the parties. OP has not produced any such documents to show that interest will be paid to such parties who had paid entire cost of the site. So, under these circumstances, when the booking was cancelled on account of default of the OP, OP is bound to pay the interest on the amount of refund. Therefore, the relief asked by the Complainant for direction to the OP to pay the interest is just, fair & reasonable relief. Complainant has asked compensation of Rs.2.00 Lakhs for mental agony. Complainant has not made out the case for getting compensation. There is no legal basis to claim compensation in this case. Therefore, relief of compensation is not considered. In the result, I proceed to pass the following:
ORDER
Complaint is allowed. OP is directed to pay interest of Rs.1,74,166/- to the complainant within 30 days from the date of this order.
Complainant is also entitled for Rs.2,000/- towards costs of the proceedings from the OP.
Send copy of this Order to both the parties free of cost immediately.
Pronounced in the Open Forum on this 30th day of September 2011.
Order accordingly
PRESIDENT
We concur the above findings
MEMBER MEMBER
SSS
