Thane, Jun 13 A consumer commission in Thane district has directed the Konkan Housing and Area Development Board to allot a flat to a home-buyer, shortlisted in 2000, and pay Rs 1 lakh compensation, noting that the board communicated to eligible persons after a gap of 14 years in 2014.
Criticising this high-handed approach, the commission observed that establishing communication after 14 years and demanding consent within just seven days appeared "intentionally designed so that the maximum number of eligible-list holders fail to give their consent."
In an order dated September 19, 2025, uploaded on the official system on June 11, 2026, the Thane District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed the board, a unit of MHADA, to allot a 31.77-square-metre flat at Chitalsar-Manpada in Thane to the complainant.
The three-member bench of the Thane District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission also ordered the board to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation and Rs 10,000 towards litigation costs within 45 days.
Advocate Baldev Rajput, appearing for the complainants, said the ruling would benefit 17 other similarly placed petitioners as the same order would be applicable to their cases.
According to the complaint, the home-buyer had applied under an affordable housing scheme in June 2000 and deposited an earnest money amount of Rs 10,000.
Though his name was included in the final eligibility list in November 2000, the board remained silent for over a decade.
In January 2014, the board suddenly issued a letter claiming the original project was stalled due to a municipal land reservation. It forced applicants to submit a fresh consent note within seven days under a revised private developer model, threatening to delete their names if they failed to comply.
"Establishing communication after 14 years and demanding consent within just seven days appeared intentionally designed so that the maximum number of eligible-list holders fail to give their consent.
"The complainants are ordinary salaried individuals who complied with all paperwork in the year 2000 in the naive hope that the opponent would give them their dream home," the commission stated.
It stated that due to the board's absolute mismanagement, the buyers were deprived of their homes, left unable to afford private housing today due to skyrocketing prices, and subjected to severe harassment.
Dismissing MHADA's technical objections regarding limitation periods, the commission ruled that the cause of action was continuous.
It ordered the Konkan unit to treat the candidate as fully eligible under its July 2021 notification and execute the flat allotment without further delay.
