Real estate developers cannot be fined for late delivery of possession of a flat to an allottee if no specific date of its delivery is mentioned in the contract, the apex consumer body has held. The National Consumer Commission further held that the acceptance of the belated delivery of the flat in 1993 without protest renders it impossible for the consumer fora to award compensation to the buyer in this case.

The Commission passed the order on a plea of the allottee, Ashok Khanna, seeking compensation from the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) for the late delivery of the flat and extra sum charged by it. “Where time is not the essence of the contract then the buyer, instead of rescinding the contract on the ground of non-performance, accepts the belated performance in terms of the delayed contract and then the question of any breach of agreement does not arise,” the Commission headed by Justice Ashok Bhan said.

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