Consumer court awards inflation-indexed compensationThe Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission hearing an appeal over a judgement of the Delhi district consumer forum,in a recent judgement,ordered Ansal Housing Construction to pay enhanced compensation to the petitioner taking into account the inflation over the period when the transaction occurred. The buyer (petitioner) Sudhakar Chawla had bought into a project in Vaishali,Ghaziabad,in 1990 for a total amount of Rs 5 lakh. The buyer paid 10 per cent i.e. Rs 50,000 on booking. Further,the buyer had already invested Rs 43,900 in another project of the same developer,but wanted to shift to the Vaishali project. The developer allowed it and adjusted this amount as payment. The buyer then could not make payments for the subsequent instalments. The developer also failed to commence the project and abandoned it. The buyer then asked for refund,which was refused. The buyer then moved the district forum in 2004 for refund of Rs 93,900 along with interest at 18 per cent p.a. The district forum in its order in 2009 awarded the refund of Rs 94,000 along with Rs 40,000 as compensation and Rs 10,000 towards litigation costs. The buyer moved the Delhi State Commission as the amount was too meagre given the inflation over this period. The state commission agreed with this plea,and fixed the “devaluation” of the currency at four times and awarded Rs 3,75,800 as compensation. The commission admitted that it had to depend on “a general and vague assessment of the extent of devaluation”.