Track2Realty Exclusive: Signs of consumer activism backfiring have already started appearing. For instance, visibly upset with the increasing instances of protests by Noida Extension home buyers, which often obstruct traffic and law and order arrangements in the city, the district administration in November, 2012, asked the buyers’ association to not to protest in groups.
The administration though assured to help settle buyers’ problems individually as protests hamper normal city life. The City Magistrate firmly said that he will not let home buyers or investors stage a protest against any builder without prior permission taken from the concerned authority. However, buyers called this move unconstitutional.
“If a buyer has any issue with a builder, he/she should resolve it individually by going to the concerned developer’s office. If the builder fails to settle their problem, then they can come to the district administration or they have the option to move court. However, they will not be allowed to disturb the law and order,” said Pushpraj Singh, City Magistrate.
Buyers have been demonstrating repeatedly at the offices of developers. Deputy Superintendent of Police Triveni Singh says that buyers often stage protests without informing the administration. Once buyers got angry and tried to enter the premises of the developers’ offices, the situation became tense and had to be controlled with the help of the police.
“We can not allow anybody to disturb law and order in the city. The protest should be peaceful if anybody in the name of protest will try to disturb the law and order, the police will take stringent action against the persons,” Singh says.
Similarly, in Maharashtra on VAT issue, the cause has been legitimate for the buyers who bought under-construction flats between 20 June 2006, and 31 March 2010 in Maharashtra and were now being forced to shell out additional cash as developers took the easy way to pass on the burden of Value Added Tax which they will have to pay with retrospective effect.
However, what appeared to be a case of a tussle between the Sales Tax Department and the Developers actually snowballed into an unprecedented situation where a media trial preceded the judicial trial.
However, post such overt consumer activism the Bombay High Court dismissed the plea describing the petitions filed by associations representing developers without merit.
It is true that even when the fight is between the government and the developers, it is the end user who suffers as the developers add burden to the buyers. The moot point, however, is while the developers are finding it hard to deal with this new wave of consumer activism, overdoing is proving to be the bane of consumer cause.
Dissatisfied buyers will continue to take the developers to courts in the year ahead, as has been the case earlier also and online networking and CCI judgment against DLF only added fuel to the fire. But consumer activism in the realty sector needs to learn walking the tight rope ahead without transgressing into petty politics, taking law into the hands, media driven propaganda, or plainly turning consumer activism into consumer blackmailing.
Failing this, the new wave of consumer activism in the sector will meet the fate of PILs (Public Interest Litigations) that was relevant till it had element of novelty, and then respective courts got too conscious of questioning the motive and locus standi.
