Rahul Kumar, a 34-year-old software engineer living at Bengaluru’s Mahaveer Cedar Apartments in AGB layout in Chikkasandra, has filed a police complaint against builders Reddy Structures Private Limited (RSPL), for damage to his properties. Rahul, who is a tenant of one of the apartments, has alleged that the builders left a boundary wall at the compex unfinished, thus causing water to flood the apartment’s parking in the basement and damaging his car.
Rahul tells TNM that in October 2019, his Enfield bullet and a Nissan Terrano car, both of which he parks in the basement, were submerged due to rainwater flooding the area.
“The submersion was because RSPL left the boundary wall unfinished. This was not the first time our vehicles were submerged, it keeps happening,” Rahul says.
Rahul narrates that he used his insurance and savings to get both the vehicles repaired, but after a couple of days, the car had started developing glitches, which the car centre said was due to the submersion. Rahul says that he has pursued the solution to the problem very systematically. “First I went to the service station, then to the insurance company, then to the dealer and manufacturer. None of them were not of much help,” he says.
A view of the basement parking when it had flooded
Though Reddy Structures Private Limited finally constructed a boundary wall four months after the incident, in February 2020, Rahul says he has been left with a Rs 63,000 bill that he is not able to pay amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been under financial duress and cannot afford to pay the Rs 63,000 for the repair of the car and so I have decided to make the builder culpable for not building a boundary wall, which caused this problem in the first place,” Rahul says.
Rahul has filed a police complaint at the Soladevanahalli police station, making the builder, Reddy Construction Private Limited, party to the case for a possible compensation. The police have acknowledged Rahul’s complaint.
Rahul’s lawyer tells TNM that they will be filing a case as well against the builder in the Consumer Forum for deficiency of service by the builders. “There is complete support from the apartment owner,” Rahul adds. However, as per law, to be able to extract damages from the builder, the owner also has to agree to become a complainant on record, as the contract of the apartment is between the owner and the builder, and not Rahul, who is the tenant of the apartment.
According to Section 2(11) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, “any sort of imperfection, or defect in the feature, quality, amount, worth, authenticity, its capacity or potential, and standard which is obligatory to be maintained and regulated as per the laws and statutes in function or any agreement/contract claimed by the seller, with respect to the products and goods, is known as deficiency.” Deficiency of service can be witnessed in any sector where a buyer-seller relationship exists.
According to the Act, any sort of willful and deliberate concealment of important information, omission or negligence of acts by the seller which may lead to injury or loss to the consumers, also comes under the ambit of deficiency service.
As per a 1993 Supreme Court order, builders and/or contractors of housing projects are responsible for defective and faulty construction. The SC had held that a private builder or contractor will come within the purview of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.