aftermath of the CCI verdict on dlf

NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of CCI imposing Rs 630-crore penalty on real estate major DLF, several home buyers have approached the competition watchdog alleging unfair treatment by builders.




Post the DLF verdict in August, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is learnt to have received about 10 complaints against unfair trade practices and abuse of dominant market position by real estate companies, sources said.



"Complaints have been pouring in in the past one month. We have received about 10 complaints against real estate developers," an official told PTI.



The CCI, sources said, will soon hold a meeting to consider if the complaints are to be dealt with individually or collectively as a sector on the whole.



According to the Competition Act 2002, people can filed complaints with the CCI under sections 3 and 4, pertaining to abuse of dominant market position and anti-competitive agreements, respectively.



On August 16, the CCI had imposed a hefty penalty of Rs 630 crore on real estate giant DLF Ltd for abusing its dominant position, and issued a 'cease and desist' order against imposing unfair conditions on the buyers of its flats.



The penalty was imposed on DLF following an enquiry by the competition watchdog on a complaint filed by the Belaire Owners' Association in Gurgaon.



The Commission had also observed that the examination of the DLF case has brought forth several areas of concern pertaining to India's housing sector.



Further, the commission had urged the government to expedite bringing in a code of conduct for the real estate sector "to ensure adoption of transparent and ethical business practices and protect the consumers".



The Commission, which became fully functional in last July 2009, is empowered by an Act of Parliament to penalise the guilty or ban a prevalent malpractice.

since 2006..rewood residency and other projects

Dear friends,
Its been more than 5 years since Era Landmarks (I) ltd...erstwhile Era infrastructure ltd ( when it started its foray into real estate and then quickly created an independent company to distant the parent company, fore seeing future litigation due to its mal-practises and naturally to save the parent company from the fall out) announced a slew of projects, namely Redwood residency in sec-88, which after an year it changed the site from sector-88 to sector-78 faridabad. The reason given was that the company could not get license for the land in sec-88, but the real reason was that the company never filed for a license in sec-88, but it filed for license in 78, in year 2007 and got licence approved on 19-07-2007 vide license no. 197 for sector-78.
Thus the company showed a sector where it would bring is project but later shifted to another sector not casue it could not get license but as this sector-88 was a prime location and could fetch a better market rate, the company kept this land with itself and bought land in another sector , sector-78 which is the very end of the neharpar region and is totally unconnected and undeveloped area for developing its residential project, that which is called the REDWOOD RESIDENCY.
Its also well known that the company later sold the sector-88 land to RPS group for a substantially higher price and earned a huge profit.
Since getting the license the company started construction, till date in last five long years it has not been able to complete the project, leave alone complete it has not even given possession of any one tower or flat in any one of its towers. must know that this is one of the smallest project in neharpar faridabad, far bigger projects are underway as I write this since 2006 in neharpar faridabad and many colonizers have handed over apartments/ plots to customers from last year it self. If we take an example of Omaxe heights which is in sector-86, they have offered possession to almost all customers of their two bedroom apartments. They have occupation certificate of eight towers. This project is thrice the size of Redwood Residency, era is developing only Nine towers in all...and has yet not been able to complete any one tower...which goes to show not only how well the company is catering to needs of its customers but also how well organized or focused are they even if it comes to delivering the goods on time promised. The actual date for possession of flats in Redwood Residency was 2009....and by the way they are functioning it does not appear they would be in any position to hand over before the end of 2012.
The same case is with its other projects...take the case of DIVINE COURT which was sold to public showing a large green area and was told that the possession would be given within 18 months of sale of flats...why 18 months...cause these are independent floors we have only to construct ground floor plus two floors which should not take more than 18 months...fate or fact is all the green area is converted into concrete area as new independent floors were sold afterwards...without consent of any of the floor holders...and again Era is missing the possession dates of all the Divine court floor owners....
what is even more agonizingly evident that for these two projects ERA LANDMARKS (I) LTD , DOES NOT EVEN HAVE A LICENSE IN ITS NAME......for their project in sector-78 they did get license , which was valid till 18-07-2009...since then ERA has not got it renewed as they have not deposited the remaining EDC amount to DTCP....for divine court in sector-76....they do not have any license in its name. The Big question that everyone is asking is how can the builder continue to carry construction activity without having the very rudimentary clearance from local bodies....will this not be breach of trust that thousands of customers have on the company and what is the fallout of such a criminal breach of trust?? Hope Mr S.S Dillion has the answers!!!!!!!