RERA Punjab Orders Omaxe to Pay ₹17.74 Lakh for 6-Year Flat Delay in Mullanpur Project
Chandigarh family booked flat in 2014, got possession only in November 2025; authority rules builder’s October 2024 offer invalid as it preceded Occupation Certificate
North Desk Correspondent
Chandigarh, April 10
A Chandigarh family has won a significant ruling before the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Punjab, with the authority directing Omaxe New Chandigarh Developers Pvt. Ltd. to pay over ₹17.74 lakh as interest for delaying possession of a flat by more than six years beyond the committed date.
The ruling is significant for homebuyers in the Mullanpur-New Chandigarh belt, where multiple large residential projects by Omaxe and other developers have seen extended delays.
The order, passed this week by RERA Punjab Chairman Rakesh Kumar Goyal, comes in Complaint filed by Pardeep Kumar Sanghi, Mandakini Sanghi, and Abhinav Sanghi — residents of Sector 21, Chandigarh — against the builder of ‘The Lake’ group housing project at Mullanpur, part of the Mega Residential Project in GMADA, Punjab.
The Flat, The Booking, The Wait
The Sanghis had booked a 3-BHK flat, measuring 1,885 sq. ft. super area, in ‘The Lake’ project in December 2014, followed by an allotment letter in January 2015. The Buyer’s Agreement was executed on November 8, 2016, fixing the total sale consideration at a little over ₹47 lakh.
As per the agreement, possession was to be delivered within 42 months of booking, that is by June 8, 2018. It was not. By the time the complainants filed their case in January 2025, they had already paid ₹39,74,920 against the agreed price.
During the pendency of the complaint, additional payments were made, taking the total paid to ₹54,11,876 — a sum exceeding the agreed sale consideration by over ₹7 lakh — yet the family had still not received possession.
The Builder’s Offer That Wasn’t Valid
Omaxe issued an offer of possession on October 9, 2024. The Sanghis challenged it as illegal — and RERA agreed.
The authority found that the Occupation Certificate for the project was obtained only on November 26, 2024, nearly seven weeks after the possession offer was issued. An offer of possession made without the mandatory Occupation Certificate, the authority held, cannot be treated as a valid legal offer under the RERA Act.
The first legally valid and enforceable offer of possession, the authority concluded, was made only on November 7, 2025 — when the family physically took over the flat.
This single determination proved critical. It set the delay period — and therefore the interest liability — at over four years beyond even the COVID-extended deadline.
COVID Relief, But Only Six Months
The builder invoked the COVID-19 pandemic as force majeure, arguing that construction was severely disrupted from 2020 to late 2023. RERA Punjab had earlier granted a blanket six-month extension to all projects on account of the pandemic.
Accordingly, the authority extended the committed possession date from November 7, 2020 to May 7, 2021 — but went no further. The authority flatly rejected the builder’s argument that the buyers’ own payment delays could be used to further extend the possession timeline, noting that payment defaults “cannot be used to justify a delay of more than four years in handing over possession, particularly when a major portion of the consideration already stands paid.”
The Interest Calculation
Interest was computed at 10.80% — being SBI’s highest MCLR rate of 8.80% as on February 15, 2026, plus 2% — as mandated under Rule 16 of the Punjab State Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2017.
The calculation ran from June 1, 2021 (the month after the extended due date of May 7, 2021) to October 31, 2025, applied on the principal amount as paid in tranches by the complainants. The total delayed possession interest was worked out at ₹17,74,680.
The authority directed Omaxe to pay this amount within 90 days of receipt of the order. It also directed the RERA Secretary to issue a Debt Recovery Certificate for any unpaid balance, to be sent to the jurisdictional Deputy Commissioner for recovery as arrears of Land Revenue under the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887.
