Shivangi Prakash-
Bombay High Court, enraged by a developer’s repeated failure to respect Court-mandated promises to compensate flat owners, has ordered the firm’s directors to show that they are “paupers” by demonstrating their standard of living.
A plea by Arun Veer, a retired pensioner, was heard by a division bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and MN Jadhav about a flat he purchased from the developer in 2013 and was promised possession in 2015. He did not, however, receive possession of his apartment nor a refund of his money.
“We are, therefore, adjourning the matter to enable the Advocate for Respondent Nos. 5 to 7 to satisfy us that they do not have any funds whatsoever. In other words, they will have to establish that they are virtually paupers not having funds in their bank accounts and their standard of living also bears out the same”, the Court stated.
Ravi Development and its partners Jayesh Shah and Ketan Shah have been ordered by the Court to reveal their movable, immovable, encumbered and unencumbered assets, bank statements (including personal accounts), the standard of living details such as electricity bills, credit card statements, and income tax returns for the previous three years.
The panel stated that the developer has not only duped the public by failing to provide the promised units but has also violated various Court-ordered undertakings.
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The defendants were well aware that assignments change, and they may try to persuade the next judge to grant them another payment extension.
According to the petitioner’s counsel, the petitioner suffered a heart attack after the ruling was issued and is currently recovering in a hospital’s intensive care unit.
According to the Bombay High Court, the developer has frequently ignored Court rulings and refused to pay other flat purchasers.
During the hearing, the developer’s lawyer, Makarand Raut, stated that he would only be able to pay Rs 25 lakh by August 2021. The matter was then adjourned until July 22nd, with the developer being ordered to complete the relevant asset reports.