Delay in delivery of possession constitutes unfair trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act.

1. The present Consumer Complaint (CC) has been filed under S.21 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 for short 'the Act' by the Complainant against Opposite party (OP) as detailed above, inter alia praying for:
(i) To direct OP to pay a sum of Rs. 30,74,813 along with interest @ 24% from date of refund of the monies paid by the Complainant for flat.
(ii) To direct OP to pay Rs. 5 lakh towards compensation for mental agony and harassment.
(ii) To direct OP to pay Rs. 1 lakh towards litigation cost

2. Notice was issued to OP, giving them 45 days' time to file written statement. Written statement was filed by OP.

3. It is averred in the Complaint that:
(i) The complainant booked a residential apartment with the OP in a project namely 'Rise' which the OP was to develop in Sector 37 - D of Gurgaon. The booking was made on 2.2.2013. After allotment of a residential apartment bearing No. B - 1101 having super area of 1825 sq.ft. to the Complainant the parties executed an Apartment Buyers agreement (ABA) on 6.3.2013, incorporating their respective obligations in respect of the said transaction. As per ABA, the possession was proposed to be handed over to the complainant by September 2015. The grievance of the complainant is that the possession has not been offered to him by the OP constituting deficiency of service, unfair trade practices, restrictive trade practices etc. on their part despite she having paid Rs. 30,74,813 out of the agreed sale consideration of Rs. 89,00,920.
(ii) The initial agreed sale consideration of the flat was Rs. 86,67,625 which was further raised to Rs 89,00,920
(iii) The construction of the project was much slower and the timely delivery of possession was not possible, on raising concern with officials of OP, about the slow construction, they stated that the construction is getting delayed due to reasons beyond the control of OP, further they stated that they will be delivering the possession by August.
(iv) On 14.3.2017, OP asked the Complainant to pay a sum of Rs. 65,61,084 which included a sum of Rs. 19,09,831 by way of penal interest charges which is highly arbitrary and amounts to unfair trade practices, however the Complainant was not inclined to pay the amount subject to slow construction by OP and conveyed the same to OP.
(v) The Complainants have now lost all fate in the project of the OP. Hence the complainant wishes for the return of the money along with interest @ 24%. The Complainant is suffering from the tremendous financial losses as she is forced to live in rented accommodation and pay Rs. 24,500 as rent of the flat
(vi) The Complainant issued legal notice dated 9.10.2017 to OP to refund the amount along with interest to which OP did not respond, thus Complainant approached State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, bearing case No. C - 244 of 2018, but the same was dismissed as withdrawn on 4.5.2018 on account of being beyond the pecuniary jurisdiction of the said State Commission.
(vii) That the omissions and neglect on part of OP only shows that the OP is guilty of making false promises and cheating its customers to make illegal, unjustified and wrongful gains.

4. The OP in their written statement / reply stated that:
(i) OP has denied the fact of deficiency in providing its services and being involved in unfair trade practices and restrictive trade practices as alleged in the complaint.
(ii) The delay in handing over the possession of the Apartment was on account of force majure and unforeseeable circumstances beyond the control of OP, including a ban on use of ground water by Hon'ble High Court of Punjab & Haryana vide its order dated 16.7.2012 directing to use only treated water from available Sewerage Treatment Plants followed by a letter dated 1.9.2012 from Dy. Commissioner, Gurgaon in this regard, heavy short