ORDER

K. Surendra Mohan, President—This is an appeal filed by the opposite party in C.C. No. 471/2015 of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Ernakulam (District Commission for short) against the final order dated 19.09.2022, allowing the complaint and ordering compensation to be paid to the complainant. The respondent herein is the complainant.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties are referred to herein, in accordance with their status before the District Commission.

3. The complaint was filed by the complainant alleging that though the opposite party had undertaken the work of renovation and construction of portions of an existing building that belongs to her he had not completed the construction as agreed and that even in the construction that was completed there were serious defects. Having received more than Rs. 10,00,000/- from the complainant who is a senior citizen and a retired Government employee, the opposite party had cheated her by using substandard materials in the work done by him. Therefore, she claimed return of the amount paid by her as well as compensation.

4. According to the complainant, the opposite party was a contractor engaged in the construction of buildings and interior works. The complainant owned a single storied old house bearing No. 540 in Ward No. XX in a small plot of land admeasuring 7.235 cents comprised in Survey No. 347/11A. The said house was constructed in 1996 and was not sufficiently spacious or provided with all necessary conveniences. Therefore the complainant decided to undertake extensive renovation of her house by effecting alterations and making additional constructions on the ground floor and by constructing an upper floor. The construction was necessitated taking into account the marriage prospects of her son who was a medical student. Accordingly, during December 2013 the design, requirements, specifications and purpose of the proposed construction were intimated by the complainant to the opposite party. He assured the complainant that he would carry out the work @ Rs.1,500/- per sq. ft. and also agreed to complete the construction within a period of six months.

5. The complainant entrusted the work to the opposite party. They also executed an agreement on 20.01.2014 setting out the specifications of the work and period for completion of the said work. The opposite party agreed to do the renovation works of the ground floor in accordance with the specifications in the agreement for an amount of Rs. 6,20,000/- and to construct the first floor with an expected area of 660 sq. ft. for an amount of Rs. 9,90,000/- (660 sq ft x Rs. 1500/-). The total cost of Rs. 16,10,000/- (Rs. 6,20,000/- + Rs. 9,90,000/-) was inclusive of the materials required for the said construction. The complainant, in order to fulfil her long cherished desire of a renovated house decided to meet the construction costs utilizing her savings including the retirement benefits that she had received for a long service of 30 years.

6. The opposite party started the work after receiving an advance amount of Rs. 2,00,000/- from the complainant. After the construction was started, the opposite party demanded money and substantial amounts were paid by the complainant to him. The said payments were acknowledged receipt of by the opposite party on the reverse side of the agreement. However, progress of the work was slow and not in accordance with the specifications agreed to by the opposite party. Alleging shortage of funds, the opposite party demanded the complainant to purchase construction materials on various occasions. In order to avoid delay and expecting the amounts so spent to be adjusted from the agreed amount, the complainant acceded to the demand of the opposite party. Accordingly, the complainant had to spend an amount of Rs. 4,00,000/- towards the cost of the materials purchased by her.

7. On 20.07.2014, the scheduled date of completion of the work, only 50% of the work was completed. The compl