The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has for the first time directed promoters of Vardhaman Enclave in Malad to obtain change of user permissions from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) along with Occupancy Certificate and complete the project on or before June 30 2020.
The order came on a complaint by Dr Ajay Garg, a doctor in Malad whose two sons and a daughter-in-law are also medical professionals. The family wanted to set up a hospital in the basement, ground floor, and first floor of the 19-storey building.
Dr Garg had filed a complaint last year that he was allegedly duped by the two developers by promising OC with change of user approvals after shelling out Rs 22 crore for 10,624 -sqft space to set up a hospital and was even given a fake letter of possession when the building was incomplete.
According to Dr Garg’s complaint, Paras Jain, director of Vikunj Enterprises Pvt Ltd, was known to him as his parents had been his patients for 30 years till their demise. In 2014, when he and his family were searching for appropriate commercial premises to set up their hospital in Malad West, Jain approached him saying he and Rajesh Vardhan, partner in Diwali Developers, were jointly developing Vardhman Enclave at Marve Road in Malad West. Vikunj Enterprises as the developer had a 45 per cent share in the property and co-developers Diwali Developers had 55 per cent as they owned the land.
His complaint says in May 2015, he was made to sign an agreement for sale for 45 per cent share of shop no. 11 for space in the basement, ground floor, and first floor for Rs 6.80 crore. The agreement mentioned March 31, 2017 as the possession date. Simultaneously, he purchased 55 per cent share of the commercial premises from Vikunj Enterprises for Rs 17 crore. He paid Rs 6.45 crore, but the developer did not sign an agreement till he paid another tranche of Rs 7.05 crore in May 2017. In the second agreement, Vikunj Enterprises mentioned possession by November 2019, according to his complaint. The complaint further said that in 2018, he was handed over a possession letter dated July 31, 2018 and told that the premises were ready. He paid Rs 2.50 crore and was told that the actual possession would be given only after paying the balance of Rs 1 crore. Dr Garg got suspicious when the two developers delayed their OC and change of user approvals for nine months despite his readiness to pay the balance amount.
Shocked on seeing that the proposed 19-storey building was barely complete, Dr Garg filed a complaint with MahaRERA seeking interest for delayed possession on Rs 6.80 crore from March 2017, interest on Rs 16 crore from July 2018, a compensation of Rs 1 crore for mental agony, and Rs 2 lakh in legal costs. MahaRERA member Vijay Satbir Singh heard the case in November 2019, and noted that the developers had not bothered to renew their project registration which lapsed on June 30, 2019. Singh directed them to revalidate the registration. During another hearing on December, 2019, when the registration was still not revalidated, Vikunj Enterprises submitted that co-developer Diwali Developers had terminated their development agreement and an arbitration proceeding regarding this was pending before the Bombay High Court. Singh observed that the complainant Dr Garg had nothing to do with the dispute between the two developers and should not be made to suffer after paying a huge amount.
Observing that fit-out possession purportedly given in 2018 was not legal, Singh then directed the developers to complete the project by June 30, 2020 with Occupancy Certificate and change of user approvals from BMC. He then transferred the complaint to the Adjudicating Officer to decide upon the compensation and interest sought by Dr Garg. The developers have already challenged the December 24 order – one of the four interim orders by Singh in this matter – before the Appellate Tribubal where it is pending.
