Now Reading: Consumer panel orders GNIDA to refund Rs 1.6 lakh stamp duty
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Consumer panel orders GNIDA to refund Rs 1.6 lakh stamp duty
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) to refund Rs 1.6 lakh in stamp duty to a Mohali resident, along with 6% annual interest from January 2022, and pay Rs 20,000 as compensation and litigation costs. The order, passed on August 12, came after GNIDA changed the plot allotted to Neeraj Aggarwal and required him to execute a fresh lease deed, forcing him to pay stamp duty twice.
Aggarwal received a residential plot in Omicron-I, Greater Noida, in January 2014 and registered a lease deed in August that year, paying Rs 1.6 lakh in stamp duty. In December 2020, GNIDA informed him the plot could not be built upon and reallocated another plot of the same area. He executed a second lease deed in June 2021, paying Rs 1.9 lakh, and sought a refund of the first stamp duty.
GNIDA argued it had no power to refund stamp duty, which was collected by the registration department. The commission rejected this defence, holding that Aggarwal had no role in the plot change and that leaving him to bear the extra cost amounted to deficiency in service. The members directed GNIDA officials to pay jointly and severally.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Stamp duty is a non-refundable government levy, typically 5, 6% of the property value, and state registration departments rarely reverse it unless a court or tribunal intervenes. This order sets a precedent for buyers whose plots are changed by authorities through no fault of theirs: they can now claim the earlier stamp duty as a loss caused by the authority's deficiency. Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, a housing authority is a 'service provider', so failing to refund expenses it forced on a buyer can be deemed an unfair trade practice. The 6% interest ordered on the refund is modest, well below the 12, 18% a bank would charge on a similar loan, but the ruling shifts the cost burden entirely to GNIDA. Watch for whether GNIDA appeals to the UP State Consumer Commission, which could test whether other development authorities follow.
Source: hindustantimes.com
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