The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 13th April, 2018: The MahaRERA order of 5th April is a victory for victims of Bhagtani Serenity, because it grants the reliefs sought by the complainants. It directs JVPD Properties to refund the amounts paid by the complainants towards booking a flat in Serenity, along with interest @ 10.05% and also Rs 20,000/- towards costs. Well hurrah, we got what we asked for. Or did we? Let us think about how things will play out in future. Does anybody believe that complainant Pradeep Badkur (and others like him who will receive similar orders very shortly) will receive the money from Bhagtani? Not likely. Under the current circumstances, it is almost guaranteed that Bhagtani will respond to this order with typical non-compliance. What can the complainant do if Bhagtani does not refund the money? Civil contempt proceedings have to be initiated against JVPD Properties in a civil court.  (Please note, the contempt proceedings will have to be against the company JVPD Propert...

Mumbai, 8th April, 2018: Yes, we are all talking about how the builder who buys Serenity project from Xander Finance (or Debt Recovery Tribunal) should complete the project and give flats to the allottees. But keep in mind that the consideration value of the project will depend on the development potential of the project land. Do we know what its development potential is? Let us first understand the contradictions in our case. According to Diipesh Bhagtani's second affidavit to Bombay High Court, Serenity project has 389 allottees.  However, Bhagtani's declaration to MahaRERA, visible on its website, says something very different. It says that Serenity project has only 86 flats and zero booked apartments i.e. zero allottees. Nobody would accuse Bhagtani of telling the truth, and so such self-contradictions were to be expected. However, these inconsistent figures raise an inconvenient question: Does the project site of Serenity have enough land to acc...

Mumbai, 5th Feb, 2018: Lately, a hotly debated topic is: Does Xander have a legally enforceable lien on the project/land of Serenity? Some Serenity flat-buyers are arguing that Bhagtani should have sought the consent of two-thirds of the flat-buyers of Serenity. They claim that RERA and MOFA required Bhagtani to seek the consent of the allottees, and since that never happened, Xander has no claim. To this, they add that they booked their flats first, and Serenity was mortgaged to Xander at a later date, in mid-2015. And from this, they conclude that they have a right and Xander has no right over the project land. Before we get analyze the merits of this argument, let us take a step back and understand some crucial facts about the judiciary: Civil courts are NOT forums for settling whether you have a certain right or not. You can't get very far if you go to a court and say, "This is my right, that is not his right!" Civil courts, including quasi-judicial bodies suc...