Experion Developers Pvt ltd Vs Sushma Ashok Shiroor (Supreme Court)
Date-7th April,2022

Sub-Delay in handing over possession, remedy available to the Consumer under Consumer Protection Act and Real Estate Regular Act run parallel, One sided clauses in Agreement amounts to Unfair trade practice and cannot govern the refund mechanism , refund with 9% interest from the date of deposit allowed.

Consumer is the king, it seems upon reading the judgement when three judges bench of Supreme Court in this case was considering delay in handing over possession in respect of Windchants in Sector 112, Gurgaon Haryana and the flat buyer approached Consumer forum to claim refund of the money paid with 24% interest. The Ld Judges followed Pioneer Urban Land and Infrastructure Ltd. v. Govindan Raghvan (2019) 5 SCC 725, IREO Grace Realtech (P) Ltd. v. Abhishek Khanna & Ors. (2021) 3 SCC 241 and DLF Home Developers Ltd. v. Capital Greens Flat Buyers Association & Ors. (2021) 5 SCC 537 where it was held that one sided clauses in agreement cannot govern the terms and the buyer has to be allowed adequate/reasonable compensation for delay in handing over project. Also relying on Imperia Structures Ltd v. Anil Patni & Anr. (2020) 10 SCC 783, the Court upheld that both RERA and Consumer forum can run simultaneously in such matters. Thus the developers appeal was dismissed.

This judgement will be helpful to all home buyers who are facing issues in getting the possession. Also it would be better to approach both the forums simultaneously in such cases.

Ramesh Patodia
08-04-2022