A Kalyan-based builder has been directed by the Thane district consumer disputes redressal forum to either hand over flats or refund the amount to the tune of Rs 22.11 lakhs, with 18% annual interest, to the 10 complainants who had filed a case of deficiency in services against him. The builder, Sushil Shinde, had delayed delivery of flats to the 16 complainants who had made payments in his project in Kalyan in the year 2014. Ten out of the total 16 purchasers had approached the forum against the builder.
The complainants’ lawyer Ashwini Sarjine said, on January 20, 2020 that Shinde was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for two years by a Thane court in August 2019, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The total value of the said flats was Rs 42 lakhs, of which the collective payment was made to the tune of Rs 27.11 lakhs, Sarjine said. The forum also directed the builder to pay compensation ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 1 lakh for causing mental and physical harassment and Rs 10,000 each towards litigation charges to the complainants, Sarjine said.
