Hyderabad, June 27 -- The Supreme Court has ruled that buyers who take possession of a flat do not lose their right to later claim compensation for delay in getting that possession, settling a question that has long troubled real estate disputes across the country.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and V Mohana passed the order while allowing an appeal by T.K.A. Padmanabhan against Abhiyan Cooperative Group Housing Society Ltd, reviving a consumer complaint that had been stuck in arbitration proceedings for years without a decision on its actual merits.

What the court said

The bench reasoned that a buyer's grievance about a delayed handover is rooted in the period before the flat was handed over, so simply accepting the keys afterward ca...