Lok Adalat: Justice eludes many homebuyers

Y Maheswara Reddy | NT

Many home buyers were happy when they came to know that a mega Lok Adalat was being held in Bengaluru on Saturday. They thought it will address their much-needed and much-delayed compensation from the builders who failed to deliver flats even after two to three years of the promised or extended deadline. However, the majority of them were disappointed when some of the builders failed to turn up.

It is not that no solutions or settlements were found during the Lok Adalat. Around 180 cases pending with Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority and Karnataka Real Estate Appellate Tribunal were disposed of, but most of the cases were not attended to.

“We, the Karnataka Home Buyers are law abiding people, as per RERA National Lokadalat public notifications, we came to participate with a hope that fraud builders and cheats will come for settlement, but builders who have higher number of cases in RERA didn’t turned up for the Lok Adalat,” said Dhananjaya Padmanabhachar, Convener, Karnataka Home Buyers Forum.

He said that failure of builders to turn up before Lok Adalat as an insult to the Karnataka RERA and judiciary. “We request the honorable RERA authorities to take strict and immediate action against those who have insulted our legal systems. No one in India is above the law, we the home buyers need justice,” he said.

It is alleged there are 369 complaints against Skylark Ithaca, 354 complaints against Mantri Developers, 153 complaints against Sanchaya Land Estates and135 complaints against Ozone Urban.

“I attended the Lok Adalat expecting some relief but in vain. With the builder not turning up, I had to return home disappointed. The construction of Mantri Webcity began in 2103. I booked a flat in February 2016 and the builder has promised to deliver the flat by November 2017. Till date, there is only one structure of the apartment complex. No interior work is completed,” said Deepa Ratheesh from RT Nagar.

One of the prospective home buyers who booked a flat at Mantri Energia Frontiers has said the project was supposed to be completed in 2016 but it is still incomplete even after Karnataka RERA extended the deadline to 2018.

“Now, no construction activities are taking place at the apartment complex that is supposed to have 847 flats. I bought a flat at another location.
I have been demanding the builder to repay the money I paid to him but in vain,” said the home buyer pleading anonymity.

A home buyer, who booked a flat at Skylark Ithaca, said that he waited for two years to get the flat but in vain.

“I have already paid Rs 14 lakh to the builder,” he said.