SC freezes Parsvnath's bank accounts in Haryana

The Supreme Court on Monday froze the bank accounts of Parsvnath Developers, its group company and their directors, while issuing bailable warrants against senior company officials  after taking note of a 20-year struggle by senior citizens to secure possession of their homes and pulling up the Haryana government for failing to take appropriate action despite regulatory orders in favour of homebuyers. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant also came down heavily on Haryana authorities for their failure to enforce orders passed by the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA) against the real estate firm, saying that the case exposes serious concerns about the effectiveness of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, in securing relief for homebuyers. The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, expressed grave concern over the "slumber" of regulatory authorities and suggested a "collusion" between the Haryana state machinery and the builder.
The court noted that the petitioners, now senior citizens, had invested their life savings in the Parsvnath Exotica project in Gurugram. They were provisionally allotted flats in 2006 and entered into flat buyer agreements in early 2007. Each flat was priced at over Rs 1 crore, with possession promised within 36 months. According to the petitioners, possession became due in 2013. The homebuyers paid the entire sale consideration but found during repeated site visits that construction was nowhere near completion. They subsequently approached the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA) in 2021.
The Supreme Court noted that HRERA passed orders in favour of the homebuyers and directed the builder to compensate them. The court was informed that the developer did not challenge those orders, allowing them to attain finality.Expressing concern over the manner in which the matter had progressed, the bench observed that RERA proceedings and orders appeared to be remaining only on paper. It also pulled up the Haryana administration, saying state authorities, including collectorate officers, had failed to discharge their responsibilities.The court also asked the Haryana government to sensitise its officers to the plight of homebuyers and the role played by developers in such cases. 
Observing the Gurugram administration and the state police had either colluded with the developer or failed to discharge their statutory duties under the law.It imposed a binding direction on Haryana Chief Secretary, the Director General Police of the State, and police commissioners of the division where the offices of the two subsidiaries are located to ensure the top court’s orders are followed. The court fixed 17 July to hear the matter again. The Supreme Court also restrained the company from creating any third-party rights in the project or handing over possession of any units until further orders.
The present case, the court felt, showed RERA law had failed to give homebuyers quick relief, defeating its purpose. This was because the tribunal had no penal powers to execute its own orders. In a reflection of how the government too had failed the citizens in such matters, the court said : “We are prima facie further satisfied that state authorities, especially the collector and the local police, are either colluding with the builder or have failed to discharge their official responsibilities.”