Builder in Mumbai gets 3 months in civil prison, told to pay Rs 4 crore | Mumbai News – Times of India

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday held Pravin Satra of Darshan Developers guilty of contempt of court for willfully flouting his assurances to court and sentenced him to three months in a civil prison. In the case of flats booked almost 20 years ago, the builder had nine years ago undertaken, in consent terms filed before the HC, to deliver possession, within nine months, of two flats to a buyer couple who had petitioned the court.
The HC noted that mere punishment is not enough and contempt must be purged. Justice Manish Pitale thus also directed the builder to pay the buyer, Achyut Godbole, 73, an IIT Bombay alumnus, software company honcho and author of books in Marathi, Rs 4 crore within six weeks to purge the contempt.
The builder’s lawyer pleaded for a stay to enable an appeal. The HC, saying it would be appropriate to give the contemnor such a chance, stayed only the sentencing order by six weeks, not the purging.
Godbole, author of over 50 books, resides in Andheri and in 2004, with his wife, booked two flats on the sixth floor in a project in Vile Parle (East). The construction stands ready till the fifth floor, he said.
The snag was height permissions and a nod from the civil aviation ministry, as the builder later contended. In March 2019, the HC had noted that occupancy certificate was admittedly held up only for want of property card.
In 2014, when efforts to get possession failed, Godbole petitioned HC with a plea to appoint an arbitrator. The builder undertook in October 2014 to hand over delivery in nine months. But with no possession given even in December 2017, the buyer filed a contempt petition over non-compliance by the builder.
After indulging the builder’s plea for more time, but then noting his “blatant contumacious conduct,” Justice Pitale held him guilty of civil contempt for flouting repeatedly and with impunity the undertakings. “Petitioners have been suffering from a continuing wrong over the years and despite indulgence shown by this court during the pendency of the contempt petition,” said HC, observing that Satra “cannot be allowed to go scot free.”
The HC said Godbole, through his advocate Drupad Patil, even proposed the builder pays sufficient money to buy flats of equivalent area in the vicinity of the project. Satra repudiated the offer. The HC said during final hearing of contempt proceedings, the builder represented by advocate Bhavesh Parmar had “the temerity to contend that since nothing was now possible, insofar as handing over possession of the flats was concerned,” the HC could consider his plea to recall the consent term order of October 2014 and appoint an arbitrator instead.
The HC noted that since 2015, the builder had been informed that a civil aviation NOC was necessary for building height. The HC said despite his 2014 undertaking, the builder did not bother to apply for an OC and made misrepresentations before court and now he “cannot now turn around and say that since obtaining OC has become an impossibility, he cannot be hauled up for contempt.”