Gurugram: Kendriya Vihar flat owners set to get refund of 'excess transfer fee'

Gurugram: Kendriya Vihar flat owners set to get refund of ‘excess transfer fee’

GURUGRAM: Residents of Kendriya Vihar, who bought flats between 2011 and 2018 in the Sector 56 group housing society, will get back a major portion of the RWA membership transfer fee.

In the seven years since 2011, the homebuyers had paid a one-time transfer fee of 1.5% of the prevailing circle rate. However, in 2018, the Haryana government capped the fee at Rs 10,000.

Some of the residents who had paid a much higher amount between 2011 and 2018 moved the high court against the RWA’s decision to charge 1.5% of the circle rate.

At an annual general meeting on Sunday, it was decided that those who bought Kendriya Vihar flats in these seven years would be refunded the membership transfer fee amount after deducting Rs 10,000 that the government had announced in 2018.

Any penalty for late payment would also be refunded.

For instance, Sanjeev Srivastava, who claimed to have paid Rs 95,000 as the one-time fee, would get back Rs 85,000 after a deduction of Rs 10,000. “I bought this flat in 2013 and paid Rs 95,000 for RWA membership. This was completely illegal. We are happy that the RWA has now taken a decision that is in the interest of the residents,” he told TOI.

The refund amount, RWA members said, might come to around Rs 4-5 crore.

“The resolution has been approved by a committee. All residents who were charged more than Rs 10,000 would be refunded the extra amount. We have complied with the directives of the authorities concerned. As of now, we are working on the modalities. We have to change some society bylaws to execute the refund process. But the residents must withdraw their petition from the high court,” said VK Singla, the RWA president of Kendriya Vihar.

However, those who have sold their flats will not be eligible for the refund, Singla specified.
The decision marks the end of a three-year-long legal battle. A section of the residents had moved court against the previous fee in 2018, when the state government capped it at Rs 10,000.

The Kendriya Vihar RWA was formed in 2000. The original allottees in the project became its members by default after getting the occupancy certificates. But the decision to charge 1.5% of the circle rate as the fee was taken in 2011 and imposed on anyone who bought flats till 2018.

There are 1975 flats in the housing society.