new delhi in a big jolt to wealthy builders who leave consumers at their mercy the supreme court today directed delhibased unitech to pay a fine equivalent to a whopping 14 per cent a year of the principal deposited by 39 buyers retroactive from 2010 in addition to returning the principal amountthat means unitech has to pay out 14 per cent a year for every year from 2010 on the principal amount of rs 1655 crore deposited by 39 flat buyers this in addition to the rs 1655 crorethe apex court has directed that unitech pay at least 90 per cent of the total amount to these buyers within eight weeks last october the apex court asked the realtor to return rs 1655 crore to the 39 flat buyers in its vista project at the time senior advocate a m singhvi appearing for unitech told the court that construction was underway on the 39 buyers flats and that they would be handed over to them in april this year he also pleaded with the sc to grant six months to the firm to complete the projectthe bench however refused to grant more time after the buyers unequivocally and categorically turned down the companys proposal the company by delaying or procrastinating the completion of the flats cannot base its stand on excuses or any subterfuge to advance the stand that constructions take time the submission in a way rests upon the metaphor that rome was not built in a day but serves no purpose it is flat or money and nothing else they collectively make a demand for refund of money because they have fought the litigation with ceaseless vigour and enormous hope the top court saidthe bench warned real estate companies not to play with peoples dreams of owning a house by reneging on their promise of delivering flats in time and instead making them run from pillar to post to get back their hardearned moneyit needs no special emphasis to state that the property developer has to respect the contractual commitment it has to live up to the terms of the contract and gain trust so that the people who dream of houses can repose faith in him not for nothing it has been said the foundation of any economy is faith and if faith is lost everything is lost the sc bench said