New Delhi, Feb 4 : Beleaguered home buyers heaved a huge sigh of relief as the Delhi High Court restrained banks and housing finance companies from taking any coercive action to recover EMIs from home buyers over incomplete projects. “The balance of convenience at this interim stage lies in favour of the beleaguered home buyers, keeping in view that they are being penalised despite not being at fault,” Justice Rekha Palli of the Delhi High Court said in an order.
The High Court was hearing a case involving the plea of home buyers who invested in projects where the builders were supposed to pay EMIs till possession but they stopped the payments midway. The judge said: “Grave and irreparable loss will be caused to the petitioners if they are not granted any interim protection.” The court observed that the petition brings into light the well-known sorry state of affairs in the construction industry.
Advocate Aditya Parolia, lawyer appearing for some of the home buyers, submitted to the court that the petitioners have booked their flats by giving the initial advance installments from their income. They were now being asked to pay EMIs despite the fact that none of the projects was complete or the builders had gone into insolvency while the home buyers were still waiting for the posession their dream house, Parolia argued. The petitioners clarified and pointed out that the banks and financial institutions had disbursed loans to the builders at one go without verifying the actual status of the projects.
This led to a situation where the banks were demanding payment of EMIs from the home buyers despite the fact that the builders had undertaken to discharge this liability till possession. The court said prima facie it appeared that the loans were disbursed without any regard to the advisories of the Reserve Bank of India and the National Housing Bank.
