The Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal dismissed an appeal filed by a builder who had challenged a July 2019 MahaRERA direction for refunding Rs. 2.4 crore along with interest to actor Karan Oberoi for delay in handing him possession of a flat in Imperial Heights housing complex at Goregaon (West) in Bombay. Karan and his father, who jointly filed the complaint before MahaRERA, had booked the flat on the 43rd floor of Tower C. The possession was due in December 2017.
The Appellate bench of chairperson Justice Indira Jain and member S.S. Sandhu, in its August 20 order, said: “The appeal is dismissed for want of compliance of proviso to section 43 (5) of RERA.” The proviso required the builder to deposit the amount of refund.
The builder said in his appeal that he was ready to hand over possession of one flat in Tower C and explore the possibility of handing over possession of an alternate flat in Tower D which had an Occupation Certificate (OC). He also said, refunding money would not be possible. The Appellate Tribunal had in March this year directed the builder to deposit the money in compliance with the mandatory provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA).