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M/s Imperia Structure Ltd. vs. Brig. Harit Pant

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 352Decided 28 Mar 2022
Civil Appeal No. 1816 of 2022
Uday Umesh Lalit · S. Ravindra Bhat · Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha

Background

A group of homebuyers who had booked apartments with builder Imperia Structure Ltd. approached the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) for relief over delayed/undelivered possession. The NCDRC ruled in the buyers' favour, relying on the Supreme Court's own earlier decision in Imperia Structures Ltd. v. Anil Patni (2020), which had held that Section 18 of the RERA Act gives an allottee an unqualified right to demand a refund with interest if the promoter fails to deliver possession on time. The builder appealed both sets of NCDRC orders to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the NCDRC had correctly and directly applied the binding principle already laid down in the Anil Patni case: that a homebuyer's right to withdraw from a delayed project and get a refund with interest under Section 18 of RERA is unqualified and exists "without prejudice to any other remedy." Seeing no error or reason to depart from its own settled precedent, the Court dismissed both appeals (covering multiple individual buyers) with no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

If a builder fails to hand over possession on time, a homebuyer has an unqualified statutory right under RERA to walk away from the project and get a full refund with interest: this cannot be diluted or re-litigated once the Supreme Court has settled the point.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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