Competition Commission of India Pulls Up DLF

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has pulled up real estate major DLF Ltd in a recent order for cancelling the allotment of an apartment of a member of DLF’s Park Place RWA, stating that it was in “direct contravention” of its stay order of September 2010.

The order was passed by the commission to prevent the opposite party from abusing its dominant position to the detriment of allottees during pendency of the proceedings. The CCI also severely admonished the builder for discriminatory behaviour towards members of the owners’ association and other allottees/owners.

The cancellation letter for one Vipin Mahajan was issued on January 28 last year when the interim order was in force. According to Mahajan, despite the directions being in force to date, the opposite party issued a letter in January last year, cancelling the booking of his apartment and forfeited a sum of Rs 23,06,778 out of the total amount of Rs 44,89,503.

While the CCI accepted this restoration of status quo and therefore felt that no further direction needs to be passed as far as restitution of Mahajan’s apartment was concerned which had been a great relief for the allottee concerned, the CCI as prescribed by the Competition Act 2002 “is obliged to impose penalty because of the deliberate non-compliance”? This, the order stated, was a violation of Section 42 of the Act.

Also, Section 48 of the Act makes it a liability of every person for penalty, who at the time of contravention was in charge of or was responsible to the company for conducting its business. DLF will now have to disclose the name of the errant persons who were responsible for the misconduct and also give a show cause notice as to why the penalty should not be imposed. The case on the same is up for hearing on May 17.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson of DLF Ltd clarified that the company had “restored the ownership of the apartment which was %cancelled due to non-payment of dues by the %allottee”.

Property Prices Set to Soar in Twin Cities

The lands in Noida and Greater Noida will make houses costlier in both cities. Out of 54 villages in Noida, 40 have been agitating for plots for years. So, more land is still required. There will be no land left for allotment to developers. Demand for land is ever increasing; land prices are bound to go up considerably. Apart from 10,000 odd farmers who are seeking developed land plots, about 4500 farmers in 11 villages of Noida, whose land was acquired before 1997 have also launched an agitation.

The authority says in order to meet the demand the option of raising floor area ratio that allows construction of bulkier buildings. But this alone can’t solve the crisis. The land rates have to go up.

In Greater Noida, the situation is different. Here, two court decisions have quashed forcible acquisition of about 750 hectares of land in two villages. Other villages have also moved court. The process of out-of-court settlement is on. If the farmers are paid more, land prices automatically will go up. If there is no out-of-court settlement, land has to be reacquired under the state’s new acquisition policy, which leaves less saleable land with the authority.