TGRERA orders refund, 10 pc interest for Kompally flat buyers

Homebuyers who paid for flats in a stalled Kompally apartment project have been handed a big win, with the state’s real estate regulator ordering a full refund with more than 10 percent interest and holding not just the original builder but everyone who came after it liable for the money.

The Telangana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TGRERA) has directed a realty firm and three other parties connected to Bharathi’s Lake View apartments in Kompally to return every rupee paid by 12 homebuyers, along with 10.7 percent annual interest, after concluding the project never got off the ground despite payments collected as far back as 2021, reported The Times of India.

In two common orders covering all 12 complaints, passed on Tuesday, August 25, TGRERA members Laxmi Narayana Jannu and K Srinivasa Rao directed the builder, its partners and the subsequent parties who took over the project to jointly and severally complete the refunds within 60 days. The interest will be calculated at the State Bank of India’s Marginal Cost of Funds-based Lending Rate (MCLR) plus 2 percent, as prescribed under Rule 15 of the Telangana Real Estate Rules, 2017, and will run from the date of each payment until the refund is actually made.

The project, earlier marketed as Lake View Towers, was proposed in Kompally village of Medchal-Malkajgiri district. According to the buyers, they had signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in 2021 on the promise of possession within 24 months, plus a six-month grace period.

They told the authority that the promoter never secured Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) approvals or RERA registration, never broke ground on construction, and eventually sold off a major chunk of the project land. The builders and their partners did not respond to the complaints, and the case against them proceeded ex parte.

Subsequent buyers roped in as promoters

Two subsequent land purchasers, Sunil Kumar Ahuja and Ashish Kumar Ahuja, tried to argue they had no contractual relationship with the original homebuyers and were merely buyers of the land themselves. TGRERA rejected that defence, ruling that their involvement in the project brought them within the legal definition of “promoter” under the RERA Act.

The authority pointed to Ashish Kumar Ahuja’s move in February 2024 to team up with Siva Rama Krishna and form Sree Bharati Builders to revive the project, during which roughly Rs 5.3 crore was paid toward HMDA approval charges. It also cited a 2024 term sheet in which Sunil Kumar Ahuja proposed completing the project himself.

TGRERA did not impose any fresh penalties in this round of orders, noting that Bharati Builders had already been declared a “defaulter promoter” and fined Rs 3.5 crore, on top of a separate Rs 1.1-crore penalty for marketing an unregistered project.