advocateselvakumar

Thursday, 19 May 2016

BUILDERS WERE FOUND GUILTY BY CONSUMER COURTS

Now-a-days with the growth in technology, consumer is increasing his awareness about his rights and remedies. Cited below are few case Laws held by various Consumer courts:

One Sri. MM Radha Krishna Murthy had paid Rs.2,00,000/- to Megacity (Bangalore) Developers and Builders for a site in Vajragiri Township. Since he has taken a loan for building a house in another site, said Sri Radha Krishna Murthy approached the Builders and requested them for refund of the money, but the Builders refused to do so. Sri Radha Krishna Murthy approached the Additional District Consumer Forum for redress of his grievance, and the Hon’ble Dist. Consumer Forum has found the Builder guilty and ordered for immediate refund of the money.

In another case, wherein Sri. SR Dinesh Reddy had paid Rs.5,00,000/- to M/s. Kapoor Constructions Ltd., in Malleswaram way back about four years ago, for booking a plot/house at Attur layout, Bangalore. Subsequently, he withdrew from the project and requested the said Construction Company for refund of his advance money paid by him, for which the said Construction Company refused to do so, since Mr. Dinesh Reddy volunteered himself to walk out of the project. While deciding his case on merits, the Hon’ble District Consumer Forum held the Construction Company guilty of deficiency in service and ordered for refund of the entire advance money paid by Sri Dinesh Reddy.

In another interesting case, Mr. B.R. Kulkarni, had entered into an agreement with M/s. First Realty located in HMT layout, for purchase of a residential flat in Mayflower Heights in BTM layout. In this connection, Mr. Kulkarni even paid a sum of Rs.4,00,000/- to the said Realtor firm; in turn the said Realtor firm gave him two options:

One flat on the 1st floor of the Mayflower Geetanjali to be built by its sister concern M/s. First Foundation, at 7th block, Jayanagar; and

Secondly, another flat on the third floor in the project to be constructed at Begur Hobli, Bangalore South Taluk.

Accordingly, Sri. Kulkarni entered into a fresh agreement in respect of the first option i.e., flat at 7th block, Jayanagar, Bangalore. However, later on, said Realtors informed Sri. Kulkarni through their letter that a new project at BTM layout would be ready for occupation by December and the same would be allotted to him. However, when Sri. Kulkarni visited the site, it was found that there was no substantial development in the project, as such, Sri Kulkarni did not make any further payments.

On his approaching the District Consumer Court, it was held by the Hon’ble Consumer Court that the Realtors M/s. First Realty failed to complete any of the projects it has promised and held they are guilty for deficiency of service. The ConsumerCourt ordered for refund of the entire amount of Rs.4,00,000/- with interest at 24% p.a., and also awarded Rs.2,00,000/- as compensation for deficiency in service, besides awarding Rs.5,000/- towards costs of the petition.

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Wednesday, 18 May 2016

NATIONAL CONSUMER FORUM’S DECISION AGAINST BANGALORE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

NATIONALCONSUMER FORUM’S DECISION AGAINST BANGALORE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

Sri Gopal Babu was very happy when he received an allotment of site letter from the Bangalore Development Authority. Earlier, he had applied for an allotment of site on six occasions, under State Government Employee quota as well as general public category. However, his happiness was not lasted long, as the BDA sent a cancellation letter without assigning any reason. His visits to BDA Office many a number of time did not yield any fruitful results and he could not know the exact reasons for cancellation of such allotment of site.

Aggrieved by the action of the BDA in cancellation of site allotted to him earlier, Sri Gopal Babu approached District Consumer Forum which passed orders in favour of Sri Gopal Babu, Further, the District Consumer Forum held that sum of total of all attempts made under all and every category under BDA (allotment of sites) rules 1984 should be treated as attempt for arriving at allotting the residential sites. Against the said orders of District Consumer Forum, the BDA filed an appeal before the State Consumer Redressal Commission, where also the decision went in favour of the Consumer Sri Gopal Babu. The BDA while impugning the said decision of the State Consumer Redressal Commission, filed an appeal before the National Consumer Commission, New Delhi.

As regards the case, the allotment of residential sites is guided by four parameters prescribed in BDA (allotment of sites) Rules 1984, such as:

(i) Marital status of the applicant;

(ii) Income of the applicant,

(iii) Number of Attempts made; and

(iv) Whether any land of the applicant is acquired by the BDA.

While the contention of the BDA is that the number of attempts in each category should be the criteria for allotment of sites, both the District Consumer Forum as well as State Consumer Redressal Commission have held that all attempts, irrespective of the category shall form the basis for allotment.

While so, the National Consumer Commission was to decide whether the total number of attempts in all categories (OR) attempts under each category separately, should form the basis for allotment.

Relying on the Judgement rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in case of Lucknow Development Authority Vs MK Guptha, before National Consumer Commission, it was held that “more liberal interpretation of rules need to be given by statutory authorities, while dealing with common man.”

Upholding the decision of the Lower Forums, the National Consumer Commission held that “a plain reading of the BDA rules makes it clear that at best it is silent on the point that number of attempts to be read in each category separately or altogether.” So, when the Law is silent on a point, the benefit will naturally go in favour of the Consumer/Complainant. Further, the National Consumer Commission also held that “cancellation of allotment without assigning any sufficient ground is certainly a deficiency.”

Accordingly, the common man – Sri Gopal Babu’s efforts in fighting against the mighty BDA for a rightful cause ended in meeting the ends of Justice and equity; and it was an eye-opener to the BDA authorities not to act at their whims and fancies.

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Monday, 16 May 2016

VAASTU COPYRIGHT OF GERMANY

VAASTU COPYRIGHT OF GERMANY

After ‘Neem’ and ‘Turmeric’, now it is the turn of ‘Vaastu’ which is a registered trademark held by the Germany.

According to WTO authority, you cannot use the word Vaastu in any of the commercial ventures, once it is registered.

One German Vaastu Scholar, Marcus Schmieke, who started an institute named Vaastu Academy in Hirschgrund, was taken to Court where he apologized for using this word and changed the word ‘Vaastu’ to ‘Vasati’ to teach Vaastu shastra to German students.

“Vasati” means Vishnu (Va) and Lakshmi (Sati). He has linked Vaastu with 10 Indian incarnations of Lord Vishnu. For instance, Lord Rama who was Suryavanshi, has been linked with northwest, relating with Moon.

Lord Buddha’s direction is north and Lord Varaha for southwest. Parasurama stands for southeast, Kurma avatara represents west. Lord Kalki represents the center “Brahmasthana” and Lord Varuna represents northeast and Lord Narasimha is associated with South.

The statues of these avataras represent qualities of different directions.

Mr. Marcus has constructed a small temple in Germany having all 10 statues of Indian Gods for the purpose of teaching Vaastu to around 3000 students in UK, Crotia and Hungary.

Mr. Marcus who is carrying on whole-time research on Vaastu, found in a two-year study that majority of women suffering from breast cancer had their bedrooms in southeast and toilets in the northeast. He is constructing 140 flats in Hannover in Germany according to Vaastu principles. Indian Vaastu expert Ashwine Bansal has also studied 13 cases of cancer in which the patients had their toilets in the northeast.

Mr. Marcus in collaboration with Mr. Bansal has written a research book on Vaastu origin of Feng shui giving new dimensions and principles to the Chinese version of Vaastu. Apart from German, this book is being published in 10 major languages in the world.

Both Mr. Marcus and Mr. Bansal have developed software on Vedic astrology linked with Vaastu Shastra for sale in international market. This software would give a calendar for an individual for the whole year to grade the 365 days in four categories like excellent, best, better and good days. It would also give analysis of an individual’s personality.

Mr. Bansal, after studying Indian Parliament House along with other seven Parliament Buildings in other countries, has conducted research jointly with Mr. Marcus on German Parliament building.

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Sunday, 15 May 2016

BENGALURU – ORIGIN AND ITS GROWTH

BENGALURU – ORIGIN AND ITS GROWTH

Magadi Kempe Gowda founded this Bangalore City, during 1537, i.e., approximately around 480 years ago, but at that time itself, said Sri Kempe Gowda had a long vision on the growth of this City, as a result huge towers were built on all the four corners of the City. These towers are located at Mekhri Circle, Ulsoor Tank, Lalbagh (near Wilson Garden) and Gavipuram Guttahalli. However, in the days to come, the City has over passed these limits long long ago, in its speedy growth on all directions. This City due to its ever stopping growth was the Capital of the erstwhile ‘Mysore State’ and later on as the Capital of the ‘larger Karnataka state’.

During the 19th Century, the Britishers established the Cantonment area of the City, as one of their ‘Army’ headquarters. The City Municipality was constituted in 1862; while the City was upgraded to Corporation during 1949, vide Bangalore Municipal Corporation Act, 1949. Subsequently, the City Municipal Area and the Cantonment area were merged to firm a single local administration and accordingly the Bangalore City Corporation came into existence.

However, during the re-organisation of States in 1956, area of the State became double; and this factor contributed to the speedy growth of the City. The other factors responsible for the growth of the City can be attributed to its salubrious climate, good highways, railways and air connections, and existence of several public sector undertakings and heavy industries. Due existence of several large public sector undertakings, ancillary industries providing services to these heavy industries also came into existence.

During the period from 1901 to 2011, the population of Bangalore city increased from 2.28 lakhs (during 1901) to around 84.44 lakhs (as of 2011). The rate of growth of population in the city was about 77% between the period 1971 to 1981, which was the highest in South-East Asia. Taking into consideration the requirement, the Building regulations were liberalized by increasing the floor area ratio (F.A.R.) up to 3.50 in Bangalore City, resulting which many high rise buildings besides large number of apartments and commercial complexes came into existence in Bangalore city; and thus the Real Estate Industry has earned its own place in Bangalore with local and outside builders and developers settling in Bangalore.

Towards the step in right direction, and taking into consideration the need for a formal Planning authority, the City Improvement Trust Board (C.I.T.B.) was constituted in 1945 under the City of: Bangalore Improvement Trust Board Act, 1945. The Government Architect and later the Director of Town Planning were the members of the Board, who were the authorities for planning the extensions on a piece meal basis in between two built up areas or in continuation of an existing built up area. The C.I.T.B. did good work in forming most of the city extensions such as: Jayanagar, Rajajinagar, Indiranagar, Vijayanagar, Basaveshwaranagar, Mahalakshmi Layout, Koramangala etc.

Earlier to it, the planning was done in piece meal by the Municipality whenever an extension was proposed. Extensions such as: Chamarajapet, Visveswarapuram, Basavanagudi, Malleshwaram, Gandhinagar, etc., in the City area were formed by the City Municipality. While the Frazer Town, Cox Town, Cooke Town, Richards Town, Langford Town were formed in the Cantonment area.

Later, during 1951, the Bangalore Development Committee was constituted by the Government under the Chairmanship of Sri N. Madhava Rau, former Dewan of Mysore State, to work out a Master Plan for Bangalore. The Plan prepared by this Committee was implemented by the C.I.T.B. for proposing extensions.

Subsequently, during early 1960’s the Government constituted the Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Board (B.M.P.B.) again under the Chairmanship of Sri N. Madhava Rau, to prepare a Development Plan for the Metropolitan area of Bangalore. Metropolitan area, is the influence area of the city for planned development of the city and its suburbs. Representatives of various agencies were members of the Board. The Board prepared an Outline Development Plan (O.D.P.) of Bangalore Metropolitan area during 1965. This plan is implemented by the City Improvement Trust Board.

During the period from 1901 to 2011, the growth of area of Bangalore city increased from 20.48 Sq. KMs (during 1897) to around 712.54 Sq. KMs (as of 2011).

While so, there were efforts at the National level to introduce Town and Country Planning Legislation in all the States for the planned development of urban areas. In line with this, the Town and Country Planning Act, 1961 was enacted which came into force from 15.01.1965. Accordingly, the Bangalore City Planning Authority was constituted under this Act and this has succeeded the Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Board for planning functions in Bangalore. The City Planning Authority adopted the Outline Development Plan prepared by the B.M.P.B., and continued the planning functions. The Government finally approved the O.D.P. on 22/05/1972.

Subsequently, the Bangalore Development Authority Act, 1976 was enacted with effect from 20/12/1975 to combine the planning functions of the C.I.T.B., on the lines of the Delhi Development Authority. The Bangalore Development Authority was constituted w.e.f. 15/11/1976. There was much expectation about the work of Bangalore Development Authority since it combined both the planning as well as development functions, but the citizens of Bangalore were disappointed as the Bangalore Development Authority could not able to achieve any progress which was mainly due to the problems created by the enactment of Urban Land Ceiling and Regulations Act, 1976. During these years the problems of the City increased without formation of any new layouts. The land values increased and the outmoded acquisition procedure was not effective.

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Friday, 13 May 2016

WindEnergy in India

WindEnergy in India

For socio-economic growth of any State, windenergy is one of the chief inputs. In the coming two decades, economic development of a majority of the world’s population is expected to be fuelled through usage of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are expected to attain their maximum potential sometime in 2020-2050. They will become more costly than other renewable energy options because of constraint in production and availability. In the second half of the next century renewable energy will play a major role in accelerating development and sustainable growth.

In the renewable energy sector one of the most successful programmes has been power generation from wind and it is making significant contributions to the power needs of some States. When a separate Ministry was created in 1992, emphasis was laid in the eighth plan to generation of grid quality power from renewable.

As the trend of cost is declining and the scale of wind turbine manufacturing is increasing, wind promises to become a chief power source worldwide during the first few decades of the new millennium. A report from the World Watch Institute, The State of the World 1998, on progress towards a sustainable Society notes that renewable energy production in the World is growing very fast. The fastest growing source of energy in this decade is wind generation and it is growing year by year. India has been recognised as the new ‘Wind Super Power’.

So far, in many States survey work is being carried on. Wind potential has discovered in many States. Earlier, specific viable and potential sites are now being identified through intensified scientific surveys. A good base of local production for wind turbines is now there in the Country and 8 or more than 8 Manufacturing Companies are involved in this Sector.

A package of incentives such as tax concessions like 80% accelerated depreciation, tax holidays for Power Generation Projects, soft loans, customs and excise duty reliefs, liberalised foreign investment procedures etc., has been introduced by the Government. Private Sector Financial Institutes and IREDA are contributing in a significant way to promote Renewable Energy Projects is general. Wind Energy Projects are being particularly emphasized.

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