Real estate firm told to pay Hyderabad customer Rs 60,000 a month over white sandalwood plantation deal
NEW DELHI: The Hyderabad consumer commission has directed a real estate company to pay Rs 60,000 per month to a customer after finding it guilty of failing to honour a lease agreement linked to a white sandalwood plantation investment. The commission also awarded Rs 25,000 for mental agony and Rs 5,000 towards litigation costs. The order was passed on August 21, 2026.Why did the customer approach the commission?According to the commission order, Suresh Kumar Chinta invested Rs 17.5 lakh in 2023 after representatives of Squares and Yards Infra Pvt Ltd offered him agricultural land for cultivating white sandalwood trees. The company allegedly promised monthly payments and said the investment would appreciate over 12 to 15 years as the trees were grown and sold.Chinta paid the amount through UPI transactions between March 4 and March 23, 2023. The land was registered in his name on March 31, 2023, after which a memorandum of understanding and lease deed were executed for plantation and maintenance of white sandalwood trees.The complainant said the company initially paid him Rs 30,000 per month from April to September 2023, but stopped making payments from October 2023. He later met the company’s director, Byra Chandra Sekhar, several times and was allegedly assured that his investment would be refunded. The refund, however, did not materialise.The commission noted that the opposite parties did not appear despite being served notices and were proceeded against ex parte.What did the commission find about the company’s obligations?The bench comprising President Vakkanti Narasimha Rao and members P V T R Jawahar Babu and Suma Vala found that the lease deed between Chinta and Squares and Yards Infra was still in force and that the company was required to make payments under its terms.The bench noted that the complainant had become the absolute owner of the agricultural land and that a separate agreement had been entered into for plantation and maintenance of white sandalwood trees.The commission held that the company’s failure to comply with the lease terms amounted to deficiency in service and an unfair trade practice.“The complainant is the absolute owner holding permanent title over the subject Schedule land under Ex. A-4 and a Memorandum of understanding for plantation maintenance of white sandal-wood trees for 15 years was entered in between the Complainant and 2nd Opposite Party partnership firm under Ex. A-6,” the commission said.It further noted that the lease deed continued to remain in force and imposed a payment obligation on the first opposite party.“It is a conclusive proof that a lease deed was entered under Ex. A-7 in between the Complainant and 1st Opposite Party wherein both of them shall bind on its terms and Conditions until and unless it shall become nullity,” the commission held.The commission also found fault with the company’s failure to make payments under the agreement.“These un-ethical and unfair acts upon the part of the 1st Opposite Party by non-compliance of the terms and conditions under Ex. A-7 is amounts to gross negligence and high quantum of deficiency of service upon its part, that leads to adoption of un-fair-trade practice,” it further held.The commission directed Squares and Yards Infra to pay Chinta Rs 60,000 per month from October 10, 2023, to June 10, 2031, as agreed under the lease deed.It also awarded Rs 25,000 as compensation for mental agony and physical trauma and Rs 5,000 towards litigation costs. The complainant was allowed to claim 9 percent annual interest on every defaulted payment from its respective due date until realisation.The complaint against the second opposite party was disallowed, while the remaining claims were dismissed. The company was given 45 days from receipt of the order to comply.