MahaRERA directed builder Epitome Residency Pvt. Ltd. to refund, with interest, about Rs. 2.4 crore paid by actor Karan Oberoi for a flat booked on the 43rd floor of a skyscraper, Imperial Heights Tower C, at Goregaon West in Bombay. The possession was due in December 2017 but it has been delayed by more than a year-and-a-half. The July 29 order of MahaRERA also says that if the builder obtains occupancy certificate (OC), it can alternatively give possession of the flat with the prescribed rate of interest for the delay.
According to Karan’s complaint to RERA, he and his father, the joint buyers of the flat, had been issued an allotment letter in December 2016. The date of possession, as per the letter, was December 2017 with a six-month grace period. He sent the builder a notice in November 2018 but the issue remained unsettled. The flat was valued at Rs. 3 crore. The builder’s lawyer told RERA that there was no intentional delay on the part of his client, rather the delay was due to reasons beyond the builder’s control as certain permissions from the government were delayed. He also brought to the notice of RERA that the builder had approached the Bombay high court against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for its failure to issue the OC. The high court in May this year directed the BMC to issue the OC for Tower C immediately. In its order, MahaRERA said that even if the delay in giving possession of the flat to Karan Oberoi was due to reasons beyond the builder’s control, the respondent (builder) cannot get any benefit in view of the strict provisions of section 18 of RERA Act.