Flat Deed Possible Without Builders : Delhi High Court Order

Easing the process of giving exclusive rights of ownership to apartment buyers, the Delhi high court had held that land owning agencies, DDA and L & DO, can execute the deed of flat in case builders fail to execute the deed.

This will enable apartment buyers to get exclusive right over their houses & they need not be dependent on the promoter to transfer & mortgage the property.

Allowing a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) that sought a directive for enforcement of the Delhi Apartment Ownership Act, a bench of acting Chief Justice Mr. A. K. Sikri and Justice Mr. Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said, "We are of the opinion that the dispute, whether the promoter / builder has failed in executing & registering the deed of flat, would be within the scope of Section 13 (4) of the Act and the competent authority would be entitled to pass an order directing the promoter / builder to execute the deed of apartment"

It added that if the promoter / builder does not execute the deed of flat even after this order, the competent authority itself can execute & register the deed on behalf of the builder.

"Similarly, the disputes, if any, as to who at present is entitled to the flat, are also to be decided by the competent authority," the bench said while disposing of the PIL.

In May 2010, the Delhi High Court had directed the land owning agencies to appoint a competent authority under the Delhi Apartment Ownership Act so that flat buyers can avail of benefits under the Act.

The PIL complained that after more than 2 years of the court directive, nothing had been done due to which buyers had failed to obtain absolute ownership of the apartments and also faced difficulty from builders / promoters for transfer or mortgage of the property.

The High Court said, "A Secretary in the Delhi administration / or the vice chairman of DDA or the Land and Development Officer of the central government" could be authorized by the administrator by a notification in the official gazette as "the competent authority under the Act".

Accepting the petitioner's allegation that the first obligation for executing the deed is on a builder or / promoter of a group housing society & buyers faced problems due to the reluctance of builders to come forward to facilitate the execution, the bench said if builders failed to do so, a competent authority can execute the same.

During the hearing, L & DO had claimed that the agency can not be forced to transfer title in the apartments in favor of the people claiming it without payment of the dues.

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