Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
R.K. Agrawal

ORDER

R.K. Agrawal, J. (President)

1. All these Consumer Complaints, under Section 21 read with Section 12(1)(a) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short "the Act"), have been filed by the Complainants, the Allottees of Residential Flats/Apartments in a Project, namely, "Mahagun Mezzaria"(for short "the Project"), to be developed and constructed by the Opposite Party at Plot No. GH-01/A, Sector 78, Noida, U.P., seeking possession of their respective booked Flats or refund of the amount paid with interest and compensation for the losses suffered by them on account of Unfair and Restrictive Trade Practices adopted and the deficient services rendered by the Opposite Party in not handing over the possession of the allotted Flats/Apartments within the stipulated time.

2. All the Complainants have been allotted their respective flats by the Opposite Party by executing identical "Allotment Letters"; the facts and question of law involved in their cases are similar, inasmuch as physical possession of the allotted Flats has not been handed over within the committed period and almost similar reliefs have been prayed for by all the Complainants.

3. For the sake of convenience, the material facts, enumerated hereinafter, are taken from the Consumer Complaint No. 1605 of 2018 titled as Anil Kumar Jain & Anr. Vs. M/s. Nexgen Infracon Pvt. Ltd. The brief facts as stated in the Complaint are that the Complainants applied for allotment of an Apartment in the Project by paying booking amount of Rs. 10,00,000/- on 31-07-2013, pursuant to which the Opposite Party allotted a Unit to the Complainants, bearing No. 2312 on 23rd Floor of Tower/Block-Milano admeasuring 3430 sq. ft. approximately (hereinafter referred to as the 'Flat'), for a total cost of 1,61,27,631/-, including all additional charges and taxes, vide their Allotment Letter dated 18-09-2013, which also contained the agreed terms & conditions in respect of the Flat. It was stated in the Allotment Letter that the Flat was having 3430 sq. ft. Super Area, but similar Flats were sold to other buyers quoting the Super Area to be 3200 sq. ft. and since the Flat does not have more area as has been shown in the Allotment Letter, the increase in the price of the Flat on account of such arbitrary increase, is liable to be refunded to the Complainants. The Clause 10.4 of the Allotment Letter stated that the Opposite Party shall endeavour to complete the construction of the Flat within a period of 38 months i.e. by 01-02-2016 from the date of completion of raft or on or before 31-12-2012, subject to Force Majeure circumstances as well as timely payment of the total price and other amounts, charges and dues as stated in the Allotment Letter, without any default. It was further stated in Clause 10.4 that if the Opposite Party fails to handover possession even after 48 months i.e. by 31-12-2016 from the date of completion of raft or on or before 31-12-2012, it will pay a sum of 5/- per sq. ft. per month to the Complainants for the delay in handing over the Flat beyond the expiry of 48 months. The Flat was booked by the Complainants under Flexi Payment Plan whereby demands for payments were to be raised by the Opposite Party on reaching specific construction milestones. Complainants paid all the demands, as and when raised, and for the purpose of making such payments, they also raised a Home Loan from the ICICI Bank for an amount of 1,13,00,000/-. It is; however, averred that the Opposite Party raised such demands without achieving certain construction milestones, but the Complainants paid the same to avoid the risk of being declared as defaulter which would have attracted an interest @18% p.a. on the defaulted payments. It is averred that by 16-08-2017, the Opposite Party collected an amount of 1,62,13,825/- from the Complainants, being the total consideration for the Flat. It is further averred that the Complainants boo........