The Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered a Mumbai developer to refund ₹1.05 crore with interest to a Raigad district couple after finding that the developer sold their fully paid booked flat to a third party. According to reports from The Times of India, this ruling came after the couple's decade-long legal battle over the property dispute. The bench comprising Presiding Member Poonam V. Maharshi and Member Dr. Nisha Amol Chavhan noted that the developer did not appear before the commission and the matter was decided ex-parte. The commission ruled that since the developer had secretly sold the flat to someone else after collecting the full payment, there was no question of handing over possession anymore.
Mohamed Jalil Harnekar, an accountant with Kuwait Petroleum International, and his wife Asger Shabnam, who works as a college professor, had booked a 660 sq ft residential flat in Mumbai in 2013. As reported by The Times of India, the couple had initially booked a 660 sq ft flat in a project in Dongri, Mumbai for ₹60 lakh, but after the project was stalled, the developer shifted their booking to the 'Bay View' project in Mazgaon and revised the total cost to ₹90 lakh, with earlier payments adjusted against the new booking. By 2018, the couple had paid the full amount of ₹90 lakh, but neither received possession nor a registered Agreement for Sale.
The couple paid the entire amount by 2018 but neither received possession nor a registered Agreement for Sale. According to the complaint filed with the consumer commission, the couple later discovered that the same flat had been sold to another buyer, despite their full payment and booking status. The developer then issued cheques totalling ₹1.25 crore — ₹1.15 crore as repayment and ₹10 lakh as additional compensation — but every cheque bounced due to insufficient funds. A notarised Memorandum of Understanding dated June 29, 2021 had formally admitted a total debt of ₹1.25 crore, after which a partial payment of ₹20 lakh was made during police proceedings in 2023, leaving the outstanding amount at ₹1.05 crore.
The decade-long legal battle has now been resolved in favor of the Raigad couple, with the consumer commission ordering the complete refund of their investment plus interest. The commission directed the developer to refund ₹1.05 crore with interest at 10 per cent per annum from the date of the MOU (June 29, 2021) until actual payment, along with ₹50,000 as compensation for mental agony and ₹25,000 towards litigation costs. The commission noted the physical toll on the couple, who had to travel over 150 kilometres from their home in Raigad to the developer's Mumbai offices repeatedly, only to be turned away with excuses and false assurances. It warned that if the developer fails to comply within 60 days, the interest rate will be enhanced to 15 per cent per annum.
