News: Gurugram: DC says Green View residents to get refund; NBCC considering it-23-03-2022
Officials said the developer had little choice but to agree to refund the flat owners after a structural audit report by IIT-Roorkee and Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) declared the buildings in the society “unsafe for living”.
GURUGRAM: The Gurgaon administration on Tuesday assured residents of Green View society in Sector 37D that NBCC had agreed to refund them.
Officials said the developer had little choice but to agree to refund the flat owners after a structural audit report by IITRoorkee and Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) declared the buildings in the society “unsafe for living”. Last year, an IIT-Delhi team had inspected the condominium and found it unfit for living, following which notices were served on residents to vacate.
Eventually, a week after the vertical collapse of living rooms claimed two lives at Chintels Paradiso on February 10, residents of Green View were given a final date – March 1 – to vacate their flats. A February 17 order by the administration had assured the residents that NBCC would bear the cost of shifting and pay their rent until the refund process was sorted. IIT-Roorkee and CBRI were asked to inspect the buildings again.
However, in a letter to the deputy commissioner earlier this month, NBCC had questioned a part of the February 17 order that said it “had agreed to refund” Green View residents. The letter had raised concerns among residents, many of whom are banking on the money to invest in new homes. “We discussed the issue with NBCC. Now, they have agreed to refund the residents. They have assured us that the refund process would start in the first week of April,” said Nishant Yadav, the deputy commissioner.
According to Yadav, the IIT report forced NBCC to backtrack from its demand about making changes to the part of the order that talks about refund. “They had sent a letter seeking amendments on March 12. The structural audit report came a couple of days ago. It made NBCC change its decision,” the DC said. Yadvendra Yadav, the RWA president of NBCC Green View, said all flat owners had applied for a refund, but they were yet to get any official confirmation from either the administration or the developer. The residents, he said, have been demanding that the total refund amount should include the money paid for the flat, registry charges, interior costs, a 15% interest and an additional Rs 25 lakh for “mental harassment”. “We had vacated our flats only after being assured of a refund by the developer. It has been more than a month since we left home, but there is still no clarity on the assurances,” the RWA chief said.
He pointed out that the residents had been assured of a refund and interest within a month from the February 17 order asking them to vacate their flats. “We met the DC on March 15 and were asked to wait another week,” he said. Asked about its stand on the letter to the DC, a NBCC spokesperson said they were considering the refund. “We never refused it. As of now, we can only say the company is considering the refund,” said the spokesperson. On the structural audit report from IIT-R and CBRI, the official said it was why residents were asked to vacate the premises.
