UP Real Estate Regulator Penalises Buyer For "Misuse Of Process Of Law"

In a first such case, the Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP RERA) on Tuesday imposed a penalty on a buyer for "misusing the process of law".

The allottee had filed a petition for the fourth time seeking a compensation for delay in registry of the unit, it said.

The allottee has already got the possession of the unit in a commercial project in Noida Extension.

A UP RERA official told PTI that this was the first instance in which a buyer has been penalised for "misusing the process of law".

UP RERA Chairman Sanjay Bhoosreddy took strong objection to the fourth complaint and imposed a cost of Rs 5,000 on him, according to an official statement.

"UP RERA is continuously imparting justice to the large number of allottees who have filed complaints with it, instances of some allottees filing repeated complaints in the same matter and thus misusing the process of law, are also surfacing," it said.

The chairman of the NCR bench of UP RERA noticed that the "allottee had not approached RERA with clean hands, that he was misusing the process of law and wasting the precious time of the Bench".

According to the regulator, the first complaint was for possession of the unit and payment of interest for delay. The authority had directed the promoter to provide him possession with registered sub-lease deed and pay the interest for delay in possession.

The promoter had complied with this order and provided him possession with registered sub-lease deed and also paid approximately Rs 2.68 lakh as interest for the delay, it said.

The allottee then filed a second complaint seeking similar relief. That petition was dismissed by the authority on the ground that the matter had been decided previously and relief provided had also accrued to him.

"But the allottee filed third complaint before the Adjudicating Officer of RERA seeking compensation. The Adjudicating Officer decided this complaint with order of payment of compensation of Rs 50,000. So this allottee had got every relief permissible under RERA fairly and quickly," it said.

However, the allottee filed the fourth complaint seeking relief, which along with the grounds thereof had been considered and adjudicated by the Adjudicating Officer in the order passed earlier.

"As if repeated filing of the complaint in the same matter besides having got the admissible relief was not enough, this allottee was also found indulging in inappropriate conduct during the hearing of the case through video conferencing," the UP RERA said.

"His conduct was contrary to the rulings of the Supreme Court which has been continuously holding that a litigant must approach the court with clean hands and must not be allowed to misuse the process of law and wasting the time of the court," it added.

UP RERA chairman said the authority is already handling about 40 per cent of the complaints in the country and if one allottee keeps approaching it for the same relief in the same matter again and again, it impacts the delivery of justice to those whose grievances are genuine.

"Therefore, heavy cost was imposed upon the complainant in this case to ensure that the genuine allottee must get the relief as per law but unscrupulous complainants must be deterred from wasting the time of the Benches," Bhoosreddy added.

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