37-year plot dispute ends in buyer’s favour

Bhopal/Jabalpur: In a case that underscores how a homebuyer’s dream remained trapped in paperwork for nearly four decades, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Jabalpur, has directed a housing society to either hand over a 1,500-sq ft plot to a member who has been waiting since 1988 or compensate him at the current market value based on collector guideline rates.The forum also ordered the society to pay Rs 25,000 as compensation for mental harassment and Rs 3,000 towards litigation expenses.The complainant, Kunjilal Saravagi, a resident of New Jagdamba Colony in Jabalpur, told the forum that he had deposited Rs 15,000 with the housing society in 1988 for allotment of a 1,500-sq ft plot. However, despite the passage of 37 years, neither was a plot registered in his name nor was possession handed over.According to the complaint, after he approached various authorities seeking redress, the society attempted to settle the matter by offering him a cheque for Rs 42,950 in exchange for relinquishing his claim to the plot. Saravagi declined the offer.In its order, the forum held that the society’s attempt to discharge its obligation by offering Rs 42,950 was “malicious and arbitrary”. It ruled that the society must either provide the promised plot or pay an amount equivalent to its prevailing value as determined under the collector guideline rates.

The forum directed that the payments be made within 60 days. Failure to comply will attract interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum, according to the order.The ruling brings relief to a consumer whose claim remained unresolved for nearly four decades, with the forum holding the housing society accountable for deficiency in service and the prolonged denial of the promised property.