Possession timelines must be adhered to per contract and statutory obligations, with reasonable terms for earnest money forfeiture.

1. Heard Mr. Pranjal Mishra, Advocate, for the complainants.

2. Rohan Kakkar, Vinod Kakkar, Ashish Kumar Goel and Girija Chandrawat have filed above complaint for directing the opposite party to (i) refund entire amount deposited by them with interest @ 18% per annum, from the date of respective deposit till the date of refund; (ii) pay Rs.5,00,000, as compensation for mental agony and harassment; (iii) pay Rs.1,00,000, as litigation costs; and (iii) any other relief, which is deemed fit and proper in the fact of the case..

3. The complainants stated that Ireo Grace Realtech Private Limited was a company, registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and engaged in the business of development and construction of group housing project. The opposite party launched a group housing project, in the name of "The Corridors at villages Dhumaspur and Maidawas, Sector - 67 - A, Gurgaon, in the year 2013 and made wide publicity of its amenities and facilities. Believing upon the representations of the opposite party, Rohan Kakkar and Vinod Kakkar booked a flat on 7.3.2013 and deposited booking amount of Rs.17,00,000. The opposite party allotted Flat No.CD - B - 7-04-403 (area 1539.84 sq.ft.) total sale price of Rs.1,65,69,085 and executed Apartment Buyer's Agreement dated 10.6.2014. Ashish Kumar Goel and Girija Chandrawat booked a flat on 7.3.2013 and deposited booking amount of Rs.17,00,000. The opposite party allotted Flat No.CD - A - 4-07-702 (area 1726.91 sq.ft.) total sale price of Rs.1,84,44,568.36 and executed Apartment Buyer's Agreement dated 2.6.2014. Payment Plan was "construction linked payment plan. Clause - 13.3 of the agreement provides 42 months period from the date of approval of the building plan for offer possession of the said flats with a grace period of 180 days. The complainants deposited the instalments on time as per demand of the opposite party and Rohan Kakkar and Vinod Kakkar deposited total Rs.1,65,28,933 till December, 2018. Ashish Kumar Goel and Girija Chandrawat deposited total Rs.1,43,15,521 till January, 2017. As per judgment of Supreme Court in Ireo Grace Realtech Private Limited v. Abhishek Khanna , (2021) I CPJ 60 (SC):I (2021) SLT 337: (2021) 3 SCC 241 , arising out of same project, due date of possession expired in 27.11.2018. On inquiry, the opposite party earlier informed that possession would be delivered in December, 2016, later on changed the date as March, 2018. Various clauses of the Apartment Buyer's Agreements were one sided and unreasonable. The complainants signed the agreement under threat that their 20% of sale consideration would be forfeited as during the period after booking on 7.3.2013 and till signing of the agreements in June, 2014, the opposite party had already realized substantial amount. The opposite party delayed the construction from very beginning even after realizing substantial amount from the home buyers. The opposite party illegally realized various instalments before reaching the milestone of the respective construction stages in violation of payment plan. During the period of three years, the complainants visited several times to the office of opposite party and made several communications in order to know the progress of the project but no satisfactory reply was given by the opposite party. The opposite party offered possession vide letter dated 16.2.2022, after delay of more than three years from due date. Due to inordinate delay in possession, purpose of bookings of the flats has been frustrated. Then this complaint was filed on 9.6.2022.

4. The notice in the complaint was issued to the opposite party, vide order dated 16.8.2022 and served on 7.11.2022. In spite of service of the notice, the opposite party did not contest the complai