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The Bombay High Court has taken a strong stance against the directors of Avarsekar Realty by issuing a showcause notice for civil contempt of court. This action was taken due to their willful disobedience of a court order in a petition filed by a flat purchaser of the builder's luxurious 42-storey skyscraper, which is currently under construction in Mahim. The buyer had initially approached the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) to seek compensation for the delayed possession of the flat, thus commencing a legal battle.
In a previous ruling, the court found Mumbai city collector Rajeev Nivatkar guilty of willfully disobeying its order. However, last week, Nivatkar tendered an unconditional apology, claiming that his actions were an unintentional oversight. Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan, who represented the collector, informed the bench of Justices K R Shriram and F P Pooniwala that the collector had "purged" the contempt and submitted his affidavit. The affidavit stated that in 2021, the collector had attached two flats in the building. However, the builder's representative, C K Singh, sold these flats to Vikram Chaturvedi and Priyanka Chaturvedi for over Rs 6 crore, receiving an initial payment of Rs 69 lakh.
Furthermore, an FIR was registered against Avarsekar Realty and its management on May 11 for disobeying the orders of a public servant. In response to the delayed possession, MahaRERA had previously directed the builder to pay 10% interest to the flat buyers, Ashok Paranjpe and his wife, on the Rs 2.5 crore they had already paid. To facilitate the interest payment, the collector has now issued fresh notice for the auction of a flat on July 17. The builder's representative, Singh, stated that he needed time to seek instructions regarding this matter.
Chavan also highlighted that the Chaturvedis had been informed about the attached status of the flat by the collector. Therefore, they cannot claim to be bona fide purchasers at any stage. Sanjay Chaudhary, the counsel for Avarsekar, informed the court that the builder's reply had been submitted. The court then instructed Chaudhary to file and provide copies of the "annual returns, profit-and-loss account, and balance sheet filed for the last five assessment years starting from 2018-19" by July 13, which is when the next hearing is scheduled.
In April, the High Court had issued a showcause notice for contempt against the authorized representative of the builder due to defiance of its order. The court had previously prohibited the sale of unsold flats in the tower through an order in response to a contempt petition filed by Paranjpe.
On June 15, senior counsel Ashish Kamat, representing one of the directors who had not received the notice, presented in court the extract of the company master data showing that Avarsekar Realty has three directors. However, on June 24, the builder's previous counsel informed the court that there was only one director. The court requested an affidavit from her within two weeks to explain on whose instructions she had made that statement. Counsel Simil Purohit, representing the buyers, requested additional time to review the replies presented in court.
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