The builder may have to pay twice for a bounced cheque: The Mumbai High Court

MUMBAI: Even if a consumer commission offers flat-buyers relief by ordering a builder to reimburse money with interest after he fails to hand over possession, the builder can still be ordered to repay double the amount in a separate cheque-bouncing action before a criminal court.

A magistrate’s court recently ordered three directors of a building company to pay Rs82 lakh to two brothers who paid Rs41 lakh for two Dahisar flats in 2014 but did not receive possession, and the refund cheques were rejected.

In all cases, the directors of Prisha Developers Pvt Ltd, Sonali Ugle, Rajaram Bandekar, and Kiran Gupte, were sentenced to six months in prison. “…merely having a consumer court ruling in favor of the plaintiff is no reason to show mercy to the guilty,” said metropolitan magistrate K G Sawant.

In 2016, the brothers filed separate complaints with the magistrate’s court. While Anuj Kumar Jha (46) paid roughly Rs16 lakh for a 503 sq ft home he rented for Rs54 lakh, his brother Pankaj (49) paid around Rs25 lakh for a 665 sq ft flat he booked for Rs80 lakh. The Vile Parle brothers were supposed to take possession in 2016. When the units were not delivered by March 2016, the construction business signed an agreement to cancel the booking. The cheques that were handed over bounced.

They stated that they served demand notices on the accused on May 2, 2016, requiring them to pay the cheque amount within the time frame specified. Notices to the directors were returned with the notation “Shifted,” but a notice sent to their office address was returned with the notation “Intimation posted,” which the brothers claimed amounted to service on the accused. Because the accused did not pay the amount specified in the notice, the brothers said they were forced to knock on the court’s doors. On May 24, 2016, they filed the complaint.
The defendants pled not guilty after the summons was issued.