Real estate firm promised Rs 60,000 every month for a Rs 17.5 lakh investment, paid only Rs 30,000 for six months, then stopped; court orders company to pay client over 55 lakh

A real estate company has been ordered to pay a Hyderabad customer over Rs 55 lakh after a consumer commission found it guilty of abandoning a lease agreement linked to a white sandalwood plantation investment. The customer had put in Rs 17.5 lakh in 2023 on the promise of a steady monthly income, only to be paid half the agreed amount for six months before the payments dried up completely.

According to a report by the Times of India, the order was passed on August 21, 2026, and directs the company to pay Rs 60,000 every month from October 2023 all the way to June 2031, along with additional compensation for mental agony and litigation costs.

How the investment was pitched

As per the commission's order, cited by TOI, Suresh Kumar Chinta was approached by representatives of Squares and Yards Infra Pvt Ltd with an offer to invest in agricultural land meant for cultivating white sandalwood trees. The pitch included a promise of monthly payments along with the assurance that the investment would appreciate significantly over 12 to 15 years as the trees matured and were eventually sold.


Convinced by the offer, Chinta paid Rs 17.5 lakh through UPI transactions between March 4 and March 23, 2023. The land was registered in his name by March 31, 2023, following which a memorandum of understanding and a separate lease deed were signed for the plantation and its maintenance.

When the payments stopped

For the first six months, between April and September 2023, the company did pay Chinta, but only Rs 30,000 a month, half of what had been promised. From October 2023 onward, the payments stopped entirely.

Chinta says he met the company's director, Byra Chandra Sekhar, on several occasions after that, and was repeatedly assured that his investment would be refunded. That refund never materialised, pushing him to approach the consumer commission. The company did not contest the case at any stage, and the proceedings went ahead ex parte after it failed to respond to notices.

What the commission found

The bench, comprising President Vakkanti Narasimha Rao along with members P V T R Jawahar Babu and Suma Vala, examined the ownership documents, the memorandum of understanding, and the lease deed placed on record. It concluded that Chinta held absolute ownership of the land and that the lease deed remained legally binding on the company.

The commission held that failing to make payments under an agreement that was still in force amounted to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice. It noted that the lease terms bound both parties "until and unless it shall become nullity," and that the company's conduct reflected a high degree of negligence.

What the company has been ordered to pay

The commission directed Squares and Yards Infra to pay Chinta Rs 60,000 a month from October 10, 2023, to June 10, 2031, a period of nearly eight years that adds up to over Rs 55 lakh in total. The company was also ordered to pay Rs 25,000 for mental agony and physical trauma, and Rs 5,000 towards litigation costs.

Chinta was further allowed to claim 9 percent annual interest on every payment that had already been missed, calculated from its due date until it is actually paid. A separate opposite party named in the case was let off, with claims against it dismissed. As per the TOI report, the company has been given 45 days from receiving the order to comply.

(With TOI inputs)