Supreme Court orders builder to obtain “completion certificate”

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court declared on Thursday that even if the struggling EMI-paying flat owners take possession of their homes before the release of a such legally required document, the builder of a housing complex is still legally obligated to obtain a “completion certificate” for the construction.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) was criticized by a bench of Justices S R Bhat and Dipankar Datta for asserting that the flat buyers should receive a completion certificate for the structure because they took possession before the authorities issued the certificate. The relief for 36 flat buyers in a Kolkata housing complex who have been suing RNR Enterprise builder since 2006 came from this bench.

The SC declared, “It is true that without the completion certificate, the appellants (flat buyers) should not have taken possession. That, however, was not a sufficient justification for not directing the respondents (builder) to submit an application for and acquire the completion certificate as required by law.”

The builder is required to request a completion certificate under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act. The statement read, “It is not the flat owner’s responsibility to seek for a completion certificate.” On Kailash Ghosh Road lies the housing complex.

A playground, community center, and a lake on nearby land—never built—were among the features the flat owners had also complained the builder had promised but failed to provide. According to the builder, the unit buyers are not entitled to any of the facilities because they took possession of their properties “as is, where is.”

The SC ruled that by registering their properties, the owners of the flats had not relinquished any claim to the promised facilities that the builder had failed to deliver. It stated that the NCDRC had a responsibility to make things right.

“We are compelled to note that the NCDRC released the respondents (the builder) in a way that was illegal. In this situation, the NCDRC should be given the appellants’ (flat owners’) complaint so that it can be reviewed again in accordance with the law. It is arranged appropriately, “a bench decision.

It also criticized the flat owners for moving in before the builder had the housing complex’s competition certificate in hand. The SC stated, “Undoubtedly, they have also violated the law by taking possession of their separate flats without the completion certificate, whatever the compulsion.”