Gurugram: NBCC questions DC order to refund Green View residents

GURUGRAM: State-backed construction company NBCC has asked the Gurgaon deputy commissioner to “correct” a part of a February 17 order asking it to refund residents who were told to vacate their flats in Green View society amid concerns over structural safety.

Weeks after the vertical collapse of living rooms claimed two lives at Chintels Paradiso, the residents of NBCC Green View in Sector 37D were asked to vacate by March 1 their flats that were dubbed unsafe for living just four years after being handed over. The deputy commissioner had directed the developer, NBCC, to bear the cost of shifting, and pay the rent to the homebuyers until they were given the refund with interest.

In an order dated February 17, deputy commissioner Nishant Yadav had said, “…NBCC (India) Limited also agreed upon providing refund of money including interest applicable as per law to the resident owners of the society.”

NBCC has now challenged the part of the order that talks about refund. The developer has claimed they never gave any consent for refunding the residents and the order by Yadav was outside the preview of the Disaster Management Act. It also said that the matter about refund was sub-judice before the national consumer forum.

“In this regard, vide our earlier email dated February 17, it was clarified to your office that NBCC has not agreed to provide a refund of money to the residents…. Till now, we have not received any corrigendum from your office clarifying the said facts and as such it is once again reiterated that NBCC had never made any statement assuring refund of money including interest to the resident owners and the same is likely to lead to confusion as ambiguity in the matter,” the developer said.

This was NBCC’s second letter to Yadav. An NBCC official said, “We have requested the deputy commissioner to suitably modify the February 17 order or do away with the directive of refunding the residents.”

The move by NBCC has evoked concerns among the Green View residents, many of whom were banking on the refund amount to invest in new homes. Deputy commissioner Yadav said NBCC’s refusal to refund the flat owners was “troubling” and they had raised the issue with the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs.

Yadav said the residents who had to vacate their flats because of the poor condition of buildings “should” get refund. “We will take up this issue with the Centre,” he said, adding that they had already initiated talks with the ministry.