The Supreme Court on Monday ordered Parsvnath Developers to comply with its orders to refund money to some senior citizen homebuyers in Gurugram by depositing the entire amount with 12 per cent interest with the court’s Registry within a week or go to jail.“The whole country has been duped by them. If you (real estate firm and its directors) do not comply with the orders within a week, they will be sent to jail. They are making a mockery of the system. The same thing that happened to the Unitech (directors) will happen to them (Parsvnath Developers). The entire system has been hijacked,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya said.“Let them explain non-adherence to orders by HRERA (Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority). Before the execution of non-bailable warrants, which is already issued, we grant the last opportunity to the builders to deposit the entire recoverable amount along with interest of 12 per cent per annum with the Supreme Court Registry. Let it be deposited within a week,” the Bench said, posting the matter for further hearing on next Monday.The order came on a petition filed by Rita Tikku, a cancer survivor, and Lokaish Tikku, who invested their life savings in the “Parsvnath Exotica” project in Sector 53, Gurugram. They were allotted residential units in 2006, with a Flat Buyer Agreement signed in early 2007. But despite paying the full sale consideration of approximately Rs. 1.78 crore, the possession, originally due in 2013, was never handed over to them as the project remained incomplete.Taking serious note of their plight and struggle for the last 20 years to get possession of their dream home despite having paid approximately Rs. 1.78 crore, the Bench, which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana, had on July 13 ordered freezing the bank accounts of Parsvnath Developers and its directors, and issued bailable warrants against the company’s leadership.Haryana authorities appeared to be either colluding with the builder or had failed to discharge their statutory duties, it had said, adding, “We are satisfied that collectors and local police have either colluded with builders or failed to discharge their responsibility.”On behalf of the Haryana Government, Senior Additional Advocate General Lokesh Sinhal told the Bench that its orders have been complied with and a status report has been filed. As it was filed last evening and was not tagged with the case file, the Bench directed its Registry to do it immediately.Parsvnath Developers’ counsel submitted that their back accounts were frozen and sought time to present a plan to refund homebuyers money.“No plan… Deposit and then talk… We are under Article 142… we are not concerned with IBC (proceedings), insolvency etc… Let there be no misunderstanding about our order. The next step is jail. That’s all,” the CJI said.Article 142 of the Constitution allows the top court to use its plenary power to pass any decree or order necessary for doing “complete justice” in any pending case.The petitioners approached the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA) in 2021, which ordered compensation. However, the builder neither challenged the orders nor complied with them.“Prima facie, we find that these proceedings raise concerns extending well beyond the present petitioners. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act provides a statutory mechanism to protect the interests of homebuyers. However, these cases reveal that the efficacy of such a mechanism depends on the ability of the law to secure compliance with orders passed,” the top court had said.