Gurgaon: Eight years after a residential unit was booked in Sohna, the real estate regulator has directed the developer to hand over its possession to buyers besides ordering it to pay statutory delay possession interest to them until the actual handover. Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRera) also restrained the developer — Godrej Highview — from levying charges not envisaged under the buyer’s agreement and granted any other consequential relief considered necessary in the interest of justice.The buyers — Ravi Kant Thakral, Minakshi Thakral and Anuj Thakral — argued that the apartment, in Sector 33, was scheduled to be delivered by June 30, 2023. The complainants booked the flat in Tower T4 of Godrej Nature Plus project in 2018. The allottees paid nearly Rs 89.3 lakh against the total sale consideration of around Rs 1.2 crore, but possession was not offered despite the contractual timeline expiring.HRera has now directed Godrej Highview to hand over possession of the residential unit in a habitable condition after obtaining the occupation certificate (OC). It noted that periodic construction bans due to environmental concerns and labour shortages were “recurring events” and could not justify indefinite delays in fulfilling contractual obligations. The order was uploaded on July 9.Under an HRera notification issued during the Covid-19 pandemic, developers were granted a six-month extension, making Dec 30, 2023, the revised due date. They alleged that even after the extended timeline, construction remained incomplete and the tower had not received an OC, prompting them to move the regulator.Godrej Highview contested the complaint, attributing the delay to force majeure events, including the Covid-19 pandemic, labour shortages, restrictions on construction activities arising from pollution-control measures and disruptions in the supply chain. The developer argued that these circumstances were beyond its control and sought exclusion of the affected period while calculating the delay.Force majeure — a French term meaning “superior force” — is a contractual provision that relieves parties of their legal obligations when exceptional and unforeseeable events, such as natural disasters, wars, pandemics or govt-imposed restrictions, prevent them from fulfilling their contractual commitments or make performance impossible, unlawful or commercially impracticable.After examining the submissions, HRera rejected the plea for any additional extension. The authority observed that the six-month relaxation granted through its Covid-related notification had already taken the force majeure situation into account and held that the developer could not claim further relief on the same grounds.The authority ruled on objections regarding the parties to the complaint. It accepted the contention that the landowner, associated entities and certain officials were not signatories to the buyer’s agreement and had no direct contractual liability towards the allottees. HRera held that the contractual responsibility for delivering the apartment rested solely with Godrej Highview.In its final order, HRera directed the developer to hand over possession immediately after obtaining the OC, ensure that the apartment is delivered in a habitable condition and pay delay possession interest under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, from the due date until the actual date of handing over possession.
