To, 25 Oct 2016
Shri Manohar Parrikar
Defence Minister,
Govt. of India,
South Block,
New Delhi
Dear Mr Parrikar,
I write to you as an aggrieved retired army officer, who has fought the 1965 & 1971 wars and has lost Rs 80 lakh to the greed of builders.
My facts are below.
I paid Rs 80 lakhs to M3M Indian Pvt Limited towards the booking of MGE-2 TW-01/04, M3M Golf Estate, Fairway East, Golf Course Road, Gurgaon (now Gurugram), registration number 1511, on 26 Nov 2012. Subsequently, construction linked milestones were getting delayed, and the flat that I was verbally told would be ready in 2015, was going to take longer. I decided to withdraw as I had limited funds, and I was already 73 years when I invested Rs 80 lakh of my and my family’s hard earned savings. I wanted to be alive to see my own apartment.
I began getting reminders from M3M to pay more amounts with no clear communication on when the property would be ready for us to move in. Hence, I decided to withdraw. I sent M3M a communication to cancel my booking for property and refund my money in Dec 2013 (all email and communication proof with me). Instead of refunding my money, they sent me a pre-cancellation notice in March 2014 and finally cancelled my property in April 2014, declaring me a defaulter even though I had categorically written that I wanted to withdraw and cancel well in advance. Since then, my son has been made to go from pillar to post and has suffered serious business losses as he has to come to Delhi every time to meet their executives, leaving his projects outside Delhi & India, but they do not give any indication on any refund. This has been going on for 2 years, and finally, I am seeking your help in helping a decorated army officer get his savings back. I am contesting their clause number 8 in their agreement that says there will be no cancellation, because they have already sold the property allotted to me, TW-01/04 to someone else, and I have still not received my refund. If they have already made their profits on the same unit, why are they not refunding my money? This clause and their intention reeks of fraud and taking naive customers for a ride, not giving them a choice of refund while making money on the same property many times over.
I cancelled my property because of delay at their end, as when we were buying the property we were told it will be ready within 3-4 years, and within a few months, after taking the money, we were told that there was a delay in construction, and delay in delivering the property. Even today, their sales team have confirmed that Fairway East, the property I had invested in, will take another 3-4 years. As per M3M’s original commitment to me, if I had waited and paid the entire amount, I may have not been alive to get possession due to their delay as I will be 82 years old in 4 years and I was 73 years when I invested in the property.
As a retired army officer I had and have limited funds to invest. I never anticipated that M3M will discard my cancellation request and declare me a defaulter 4 months after my request was already sent to them, making it very clear that they never had any intention in returning my money.
I have sent so many emails to M3M and Mr Basant Bansal, the chairman but have not received any response. I am sure that as the Defence Minister, you will not want to see a builder take advantage of one of your soldiers, who earned this money by giving his blood and soul for our country. At this age, I cannot go to court and fight a legal battle for what is rightfully mine. I am not asking for anything that is not mine, but I do not understand why we have to beg for our own money to be returned. We are soldiers, we are trained to fight and win wars for our country, and then our own countrymen cheat us. Is that fair?
I look forward to your support in getting me my hard earned money back at the earliest.
Warm regards,
Col P N Khera, VSM (Retd)
Copy to : Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Urban Development, Govt of India, New Delhi
Copy to PMO
Col P N Khera 