New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) A Delhi court has awarded Rs 4.4 lakh to a man whose flats in a building were demolished without his consent by the owners of other floors. Additional District Judge Rakesh Kumar Sharma asked the persons, who demolished the two floors of the complainant, to reconstruct them and pay Rs 15,000 per month for future damages until possession was given to him. “It stands proved on record that the second and third floors of the suit premises were demolished by the defendants, who also removed the goods/articles of the plaintiff (Sharma) lying therein and that the defendants have started booking for sale of large space of the stilt level parking for commercial activities,” the court said. According to the complaint filed by north-west Delhi resident Surinder Kumar Batra, he had sold the ground and first floor of a four-storey building on August 2, 2011 to Subhash Chander and Pankaj Verma while retaining the second and the third floor. It was alleged that the buyers demolished the entire building without informing Batra and constructed a parking lot in the two storeys. The complaint further alleged that the buyers took away all the household things from the demolished flats. Chander and Verma, however, denied all the allegations and claimed that the building was not demolished by them. “The plaintiff has claimed damages for the period from April 1, 2012 to July 31, 2013 i.e for 16 months. The amount of damages at Rs 7,500 per month per floor for 16 months comes to Rs 2,40,000. Hence, it is held that the plaintiff is entitled to recover an amount of Rs 2.40 lakh as damages for the period,” the court said. It further said that the amount for loss of the household goods “comes to Rs 1,00,000 per floor which does not appeared to be exorbitant. Hence, the same is allowed.” PTI
