Hi,
I had bought an apartment in Bangalore a year and half ago. I have not yet got the flat registered but had signed a contract stating all the details with the builder.
~ 6 Months back, I got to know from the other fellow buyers who have got the apartment registered that they have received court notices about a dispute being on the land on which the society is being built. In short, the case is that the builder confirmed us that the land is fully in his possession and he the rightful owner for doing the construction. However some people have put a case against the land stating that they are the owners of it. The case is still pending in the court.
Haveing known this fact, I declined to pay the installments to the builder. I had told him that I would not be comfortable releasing any more funds untill the court case is over. I had also assured him that whatever the amount gets stacked he will get the whole of it the very next day the court case is over. But the staff of the builder kept bugging stating that the case is false and that they are still continuing on the construction so I need to pay. This all happend from, I guess, Feb onwards, and till April end I confronted him without moving even a bit from my previous statement.
In May first week the staff of the builder contacted me and told me that his bosses have decided that whosoever doesnt pays their dues by the next day they will cancel their apartments. I was like , am being given no choice but to pay with a situation which can go in for years and I may end up losing whole of my savings invested over there. Hence I made a quick decision and told him to cancel the apartment and return me the money.
To this the builder's staff told me that since I am cancelling and so the builder will not pay any interest on the amount. I argued a little but could not bargain much so accepted the fact that I am fine with receiving only the money I had invested. He told me that the builder will return my money in 45 days from the date on which we agreed upon for cancelling the apartment. All this happend on 8th May 2015. Now it is 25th June which is more than 45 days.
I contacted them on 22nd June asking for the whereabouts of my money and the to know when they are going to call me to hand over the cheques. Here the problem started.
1. The staff doesnt take the phone calls now.
2. I try them on Whatsapp, after 10 messages of mine they respond one or two words.
3. I have emailed them with all the details but they arent replying back to that as well.
Of the two guys handling this issue of mine, one responded yesterday that they would hand over the cheques in 10 more days, but now I suspect them for that as well. They just want to keep me silent for another 10 days and will surely comeup with some other timeline.
My probelm is, I am not in India at the moment and am deputed for some work abroad. I am going to stay here for long.
It may also be wise enough to hold on for few more days, but the more I prolong it the more my life gets worse as I keep on thinking about it the whole day :( . This is kind of affecting my work as well now.
But I want to know if there is procedure I can file the case against them in the consumer court in India while staying abroad or do I have to come back for this. I have an elder brother in bangalore who can submit the documents on my behalf, but just thats it.
Also if I have to come back for this can my case include the compensation(from the Builder) for leaving my work abroad and coming back to India just bacuse of the issues created by the builder?
Please suggest, If there is a way to file the case without leaving my work here?
Regards,
Krishna
