HRERA Orders 10.8% Delay Interest on Sector 67 Esencia Floor After 10 Years

GURUGRAM: Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority on 14 August directed Ansal Phalak Infrastructure to pay delayed-possession interest at 10.8 per cent a year to a couple who booked a Sector 67 floor in 2012 and still do not have possession.

Samir and Suman Chitkara booked unit D1561SF, Sovereign Floors, in Esencia — 1,572 sq ft, sale consideration over Rs 1.2 crore — under a buyer’s agreement dated 21 August 2012. The builder had 36 months plus a six-month grace period. The due date of possession was 21 February 2016.

Authority chairman Arun Kumar ordered interest from that date until a valid offer of possession. Arrears must be cleared within 90 days. Monthly interest after that is payable before the 10th of the following month, under Rule 16(2). The promoter must offer possession within 30 days of getting the occupation certificate and execute the conveyance deed under Section 17(1). Holding charges are barred, following the Supreme Court’s 2020 Capital Green ruling.

HRERA held the promoter in breach of Section 11(4)(a) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. More than a decade on, the project has neither an occupation certificate nor an offer of possession. The authority treated it as an ongoing project under the Act.

The Chitkaras said they had paid Rs 1,04,86,215. Receipts on the file showed Rs 24,69,412. They also alleged premature demands and no reply to repeated requests for possession. Ansal Phalak did not contest the complaint on merits. After an ex parte order on 22 August 2025, its counsel filed only a memo of appearance.

The 10.80 per cent rate is SBI’s marginal cost of lending rate of 8.80 per cent as on 14 August 2026, plus 2 per cent, under the proviso to Section 18(1) read with Rule 15 of the Haryana RERA Rules — the same rate an allottee would pay on default. Claims for litigation cost and compensation for harassment were sent to the adjudicating officer, as the Supreme Court’s 2021 Newtech judgment keeps those heads under Sections 71 and 72.

For a floor booked when the 36-month clock started in 2012, February 2016 is now more than ten years past. Interest at 10.8 per cent on the amount the authority accepts as paid will run until a lawful offer of possession, not until a letter that is not backed by an OC. The 90-day arrears clock started with the 14 August order.

Esencia sits in Sector 67, a licensed pocket where several Ansal-linked projects have had buyers before the same bench. This order is limited to D1561SF and the two complainants. It does not by itself restructure the project. It does fix a rate, a start date, a 90-day payout and a ban on holding charges once an OC is in hand.