SC Raps Builder for Decade-long Delay, Orders 18% Interest on Refund to Homebuyer

In a strongly worded judgment that will resonate with thousands of aggrieved homebuyers across the country, the Supreme Court has directed BPTP Ltd, a developer to refund the money collected from a buyer with 18% annual interest, after finding that the builder had delayed possession for more than a decade and levied arbitrary charges. The Court held that while tribunals and consumer fora often restrict compensation to 9% interest, such a meagre amount would not meet the ends of justice in this case, where the builder had itself imposed an 18% penal interest rate on the buyer for delays in instalment payments. In an order, a bench of justice Dipankar Datta and justice Augustine George Masih says, "In view of the conduct of the developer, it cannot be permitted to escape with a nominal