Paras Buildtech a case study in worst practices

News Point: Track2Realty takes up Paras Buildtech as a case study in worst practices. Though the developer is not alone in having this kind of arrogance towards the home buyers, yet the expose is a grim reminder to the sector at large that harassment & humiliation of home buyers is a self-inflicted injury to not only own brand but hurting the cause of sector as well.

A few stark realities of Paras Buildtech that are enough to intimidate any common home buyer:

• Paras Buildtech files criminal cases against residents of Paras Tierea, Sector 137, Noida Expressway to stop them from protest against harassment

• Paras offered the victim residents to sign an unconditional apology to withdraw the criminal case

• The builder forfeits the money of protesting residents and asks to sign blank paper in exchange of refund

• A resident was thrashed and hospitalized by the security guards at Paras Tierea

• With poor construction quality the ceiling falls over the residents; the facility had not repaired it on earlier complaints

These are just some of the instances of intimidation by Paras Buildtech at its project, Paras Tierea, Sector 137, Noida Expressway. The story of harassment and humiliation of home buyers does not end here. Backed by political clout, the builder is arrogant to silence all the voices of home buyers.

Intimidation & bullying

• Poor construction & poor facility management by Paras Buildtech makes it a case study in worst practices

• Residents of Paras Tierea, Sector 137, Noida Expressway are silenced with threats and criminal cases

• A large 30-acre project is big business for builder but overt greed is killing the golden goose

• Paras does not respond to media queries; buyers’ mails are blocked when questioned

In 2011 Gaurav Gupta booked an apartment in Paras Tierea. The dream of a house of one’s own, however, was soon shattered as he was exposed to the stark reality of buyer harassment and humiliation by the builder. After paying the booking amount for the flat, he was later told that the given apartment had already been sold. The builder then offered him an alternate flat. A reluctant buyer was left with no choice as he had paid the booking amount.

However, the alternative flat that was offered by the builder again proved to be a case of misleading and cheating. When Gaurav approached the bank for the home loan, the bank in its due diligence found that the said flat had already been mortgaged by the builder to Xander Finance. The builder this time too admitted the mistake and asked for some time to get NOC by the Xander Finance after paying their dues.

Track2Realty has access to all the correspondence between the builder and the buyer. It was in no way the mistake of few employees but the top management was very much part of this fraudulent trade practice. Even the CMD of Paras Buildtech, Harindra Nagar, was market in all the emails that were exchanged.

Later when the builder finally gave him the NOC the poor buyer was asked to pay a penalty of late payment, as if this has been the mistake of the buyer to have already mortgaged the flat that the builder had sold.

With no choice left by the builder who refused to handover the possession of the apartment, if late payment penalty was not given, Gaurav Gupta made an additional payment of Rs. 48,000 to get his possession. He nevertheless continued to ask for the refund. In due course of correspondence the builder admitted that the penalty was wrong and committed to look into the ways of refund.

In the meantime the poor construction quality had surfaced and the buyers took to streets. The builder asked Gaurav Gupta, who was also part of the protest, to sign a blank document and get his refund. The refusal to sign the papers made the builder so angry that all correspondence channel with this buyer was cut down. Even the Paras Buildtech email server blocked this resident from sending any further mail to the builder.

That, however, did not stop the residents to protest who till then had suffered enough by the builder. It was no more about the poor construction quality alone but even the security agency, a family company of builder Harindra Nagar, deployed the guards to threaten the residents. One resident who protested was bashed up and hospitalized by the guards in mid night. The resident being a tenant immediately left the place.

The home buyers who had bought over the flat had no choice of leaving. They continued to protest and the angry builder then decided to teach them a lesson. These residents were implicated in a criminal case which lacked legal merit, as some eminent lawyers told Track2Realty. The case under IPC 506 (criminal intimidation) and IPC 427 (mischief & damage to property) itself says a lot about the intent of the developer.

The harassment anyway forced a few residents to succumb. Some other residents were bought over by the builder in due course. However, the protest against the builder and his poor facility service was far from reconciliation.

It is not that the residents did not try for reconciliation and improvement of the society. As a matter of fact, the residents put forward many suggestions that were turned down by the Paras management due to clash of ego. In one such incident the residents persuaded the ICICI bank to open an ATM-cum-Digital Room which was turned down by Paras. The VP – Sales & Marketing of Paras Buildtech, Rajesh Kaul wrote back to the residents, “It is the prerogative of Paras management to deal with the bank and we will deal with HDFC bank on our terms.” Needless to say, while the ICICI bank went to nearby society, the HDFC bank never entertained the Paras Buildtech on their terms.

At a time when the power distribution company Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) has clarified that usage charges for prepaid meters are meant exclusively for electricity, not other tariffs like maintenance, water and clubhouse, Paras Tierea continues to club all the charges in a common bill. Openly flouting the instruction that housing societies can not disconnect power to houses that have defaulted on payments in instances where others charges have added to the billing for power in prepaid electricity meters, Paras disconnects the electricity the moment advance deposit of any apartment reaches zero balance.

This raises a few questions that Paras Buildtech needs to answer. In a couple of emails sent by Track2Realty the builder Harindra Nagar did not respond. But these unanswered questions are pertinent from the standpoint of home buyers’ interests and the kind of worst practices that Paras Buildtech so blatantly follows:

Q. What is the definition of mischief by the builder? Is poor construction quality and pathetic facility management mischief or the democratic protest is mischief?

Q. How can unarmed, educated & civilized residents threaten the battery of security guards and damage property when the track record of guards is to bash up the residents?

Q. If the builder has so much problems with the residents who have bought the apartments with their lifetime savings, then why don’t they handover the maintenance to the RWA? What kind of money builder is making in facility that makes him glued to the facility?

Many of these questions are still unanswered as the builder is so confident with his money power, muscle power & political clout that he does not bother to address the problems.

 By: Ravi Sinha