The Consumer Protection Act of 1986 has given a fillip to the hitherto veiled consumer movement in our country. From times immemorial the innocent ill-informed consumer is deceived by the mighty powerful and exploiting manufacturer under the Feudal doctrine caveat emptier. The courts in our country are overburdened with docket explosion and the procedure for redressal involves time consuming and lengthy arguments, the average common man who is busy in earning his daily needs from down to dusk doesn'tfind authorities and law paying any heed to his complaint easily.
A modest of, but good beginning was made in the year 1969 with the introduction of Monopolies Restrictive Trade Practice Act (MRTPC Act), but the average consumer has failed to take advantage of this legislation because of the situation disadvantages of the benches of the Hon?ble Commission. The basic requirement of the consumer in our country is to have simple, inexpensive, expeditious redressal machinery and the same has been provided to him through the Consumer Protection Act of 1986. The rest is history. With the development in science and also with the advancement of the society more and more activities are now covered under Consumer Protection Act.
There are good number of instances at Delhi where in the District Forum State Commission have hauled up BSES/NDPL, MTNL, packed water bottle companies, cola companies even cinema halls for excess charges on banded FMCG product supplied by them thereby putting an end to the dilemma. The real need of the hour is a Ralf Nader who can educate the masses and lead them in a proper direction to achieve their rights. The consumer should also come forward wherever he has been cheated without consoling and cajoling himself that all his sufferings were due to him also. Delhi needs more than one lakh house per year, as year after year it receives settlers from the neighbouring states. The middle class people in these states are attracted towards as its more employment potentialities for generations to come and also for good appreciation for investment in real estates.
Foreign players is one of the major reasons for the sudden increase in the real estate market. The developers also know this fact and this has led to a new trend of developing property according to specific needs after the bubble in the mid-1990s. In the same period, more so in the last one-year, many ?real estate? companies (not sure how many are ?real?) have seen dramatic increase in their valuations shortage of dwelling units in India is in the vicinity of around 19 m (there has been a marginal fall in the same, but not very meaningful).
So, the demand side has never been an issue. Ultimately, every individual dreams of owning a house at some point in his life what is important to focus is the ?affordability factor?, which is determined by broadly three parameters, i.e., property cost, income levels and interest rates. Prior to 2005, it is a known fact that the fall in interest rates on housing loans and income tax sops to individuals on housing loan repayments, boosted demand for housing in the country. For purchasing a property he comes across a good number of people like contractor, builder, mega builders, developers etc etc and is playing into their hands without his knowledge.
At the time of booking the builder has so many technical words like Super Area, Covered Area, Exclusive Use, etc and will not give sufficient time to think before putting ink on the dotted line. In most of the cases the builders makes a promise to lender on those lands which were not even acquired by them or before taking proper approvals from the competent authorities for construction or in some cases they are promising Super-structure on lands which are under dispute before the local courts without disclosing any of these facts. The builder starts booking, and collecting money. By this process the shrewd builders are having excess to huge amount. Now it is in the knowledge of every one that most of the builders are fly by night operators and the companies floated by them are only on papers, even if the investor has persistently followed his case, at the most, builder will be penalized with 10-12 per cent interest for the dream house of the investor. The builders are inviting NRI by claiming that they had completed so many projects in and around Delhi and showing videos to support their claim. No special comment about the authencity of the video is necessary but if any NRI has invested the money on the basis of false claims, then the reputation of our country is at stake. Therefore, the government should come forward and ban such advertisements.
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