The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 17th May, 2018: When you pay a token of Rs 5 lakh and fill up an application form for booking a flat in Omkar Alta Monte (situated on Western Express Highway, Malad East), you enter into contract with Omkar builders, right? Right, because you are bound by the contract as soon as your money goes into their bank account. If you cancel the transaction, whatever you paid will be forfeited. As much as Rs 30 to 60 lakh is the token or "application fee" for a 3BHK costing Rs 3 crore, and you can lose all that money if you try to cancel the transaction.  It seems reasonable to expect that Omkar builders are also bound by the same contract to sell the flat to you, right? Wrong, because Omkar Realtors are NOT contractually bound to sell you the specified flat, or any flat for that matter. They can reject your booking even two months after you paid the initial token amount. Omkar does not have to give you any reasons for rejection, and you have no right to ask. Adding insul...

Mumbai, 30 June 2016: Hundreds of savvy and well-educated flat buyers have purchased "luxurious" flats in RNA Exotica without noticing what their sale-purchase agreements clearly says: that RNA Exotica is actually a large and shabby slum rehabilitation scheme with a tiny island of rich flat-buyers. The rich people's housing project is married and tied to the rehab component in the same undivided compound -- a marriage made in hell! Not just RNA Exotica's sale-purchase agreement, but also project layouts and plans presented to MOEF, give a birds-eye-view of this nightmarish neighbourhood. With clever advertizing, a tight-lipped sales staff, and several clauses in the sale-purchase agreements that forbid investors from asking the right questions , RNA Corp has been consistently misleading its investors for many years. A prospective home-buyer never gets to read the true facts before he is inside the builder's trap! So let us take a close look at all the ugly...

Mumbai, 25th  February, 2016: Common people rarely turn up in good numbers to openly speak out against powerful builders, and so it was an unusual sight that about 200 rich and poor persons aggrieved by RNA Corp (owned by late Anil Aggarwal, Gokul Aggarwal, Anubhav Aggarwal and Saranga Aggarwal) stage a roadside gathering near Versova, Andheri West, to speak out against RNA Builders. In this unusual gathering on the morning of Sunday, 21st  February, 2016, the well-to-do persons were aggrieved buyers who had booked flats in various RNA projects such as RNA Exotica in Oshiwara, and RNA Palazzo and RNA Grande in Kandivali. The poorer participants were those dishoused and dispossessed by RNA's SRA or MHADA redevelopment projects. Many in the gathering boldly voiced their grievances before a handheld video camera, knowing that every word that they said was being recorded for publishing in the public domain. A major chunk of the gathering, who had already formed associations for ...

Mumbai, 10th February, 2016, Mumbai: So what is going on with RNA Builders? Back in December 2013, those who had purchased flats in RNA Grande, Kandivali West, must have been quite impressed by this notice issued by RNA Universal , signed by Anil Aggarwal himself, proclaiming that flat buyers would be given possession for interior decoration and furniture work in October 2014, subject to force majeure . The passing away of Anil Aggarwal in May 2014 from the complications of bariatric surgery must indeed have been a “force majeure”, because the project is very far from complete, and hundreds of flat purchasers have become “Project Affected People”. It's an old story; shit happens, and it keeps happening in Mumbai.  So, is RNA Corp the victim of a financial crisis? Or is it a willful defaulter and habitual truant? This auction notice says that RNA Corporate Park owes State Bank of India Rs 61.50 crore, and to realize this amount, parcels of land in Palghar district owned by R...

Appoint Regulators for Redevelopment Industry Download PIL in Word format:  http://tinyurl.com/PIL-against-Redevelopers Also Read: Building Redevelopment: Gaps in Legal Framework & Constitutional Validity SYNOPSIS For the common man, a house is not just the place where he lives. People’s houses are their entire life savings, and the foundation of domestic harmony. It is their security, and the economic foundation on which they base their entire life. The livelihood of many families, the quality of the children’s education and the peaceful lives of retired people, are entirely dependent on their houses. So houses are a matter of life-and-liberty. In the name of de-licensing and liberalization, the government over past decades has withdrawn from its role of providing affordable housing, and has given free play to private developers whose projects are driven purely by profit motive. Also, it has abdicated from its supervisory and regulatory role, and allowed private bu...