NCDRC dismisses resident's plea seeking reimbursement of apartment repair bill

The apex consumer commission has dismissed a plea by a man seeking reimbursement from his housing society of the money he spent on repair of his apartment 37 years ago.

Dubbing the complaint "vague", the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) dismissed New Delhi resident Y S Srivastava's appeal on July 3.

Srivastava had sought reimbursement of the cost of repair of the toilet of his flat which he purchased in 1977 at the Press Association Co-operation Group Housing Society here.

In my view, the complaint filed by the complainant is vague; it was filed after 37 years of allotment of the flat. Under such circumstances, the society is not under obligation to replace or repair the toilet," presiding member of NCDRC S M Kantikar said.

 

"I do not find any merit in this instant revision petition. Therefore, the same is dismissed on merit as well as barred by limitation, Kantikar further said.

According to the complaint, Srivastava had repaired the toilet in his flat and submitted the bill for reimbursement to the society, but it refused.

The society contended that Srivastava was in possession of the flat for 37 years and never complained about the non-functional state of the toilet.

It said the job of repair was not within the scope of the society's responsibilities.

Alleging deficiency of service, Srivastava had first filed a complaint before the district consumer forum in 2012, but his plea was dismissed there as well.

Srivastava then approached the state consumer commission, but it refused to entertain his appeal.