Mohali. Oct 30: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, SAS Nagar (Mohali), has sentenced Navjeet Singh, president of Sky Rock City Welfare Society, to a total of six years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹2 lakh for failing to comply with two refund orders issued eight years ago.
The commission’s bench, comprising president S.K. Aggarwal and member Paramjeet Kaur, pronounced the verdicts in two separate execution cases filed by homebuyers Kavita Devi Sharma and Satish Kumar. Both had approached the commission after their housing projects were delayed and the developer failed to return their investments.
In the first case, filed by Kavita Devi Sharma, the commission had in August 2017 directed Sky Rock City Welfare Society to refund ₹3.47 lakh with 12% annual interest, along with ₹25,000 as compensation and ₹10,000 toward litigation costs. The order went unimplemented for eight years.
Finding no justification for the continued defiance, the commission sentenced Navjeet Singh to three years of imprisonment and levied a ₹1 lakh fine, of which ₹40,000 was ordered to be paid to the complainant.
Similarly, in the second case filed by Satish Kumar, the commission had ordered a refund of ₹3.70 lakh with 12% annual interest and ₹35,000 as compensation. The developer again ignored the directive, prompting the bench to award another three years of imprisonment and a separate fine of ₹1 lakh, with ₹40,000 to be paid to the complainant.
The bench observed that the accused “offered no valid reason or explanation” for the prolonged non-compliance despite clear orders issued in 2017. “People like the complainant continue to suffer for years as orders remain unimplemented. No lenient view can be taken against the accused,” the commission stated in its order.
The commission further noted that Singh had made repeated false promises of delivering possession to homebuyers only to delay refund payments. His conduct, it added, “undermines the very purpose of the Consumer Protection Act” and cannot be condoned.
According to the order, Singh, who is presently lodged in Ropar district jail, will now undergo a total of six years of imprisonment. In case of default in payment of the fine, he will serve an additional three months in each case.
