Consumer Connect: 'Homebuyers Must File Group Complaints In Consumer Panel,' Says Expert

Q. A large group of homebuyers from Navi Mumbai, say about 150 out of 220, wants to file a case against the builder in Consumer Court for refund of their amounts paid along with interest and compensation. Each one of these 150 homebuyers have paid amount ranging between Rs 20 lakhs to 80 lakhs. In such case, can only one or two home-buyers from this group file a complaint on behalf of all 150 homebuyers or all 150 homebuyers will have to join as complainants? Will it be treated as a Class Action complaint? What is the Class Action complaint under Consumer Protection Act? How is it different from Group complaint? —Yogesh Joshi, Panvel A.

You have raised an important question. Consumer Protection Act, 2019 provides for Class Action complaints as well as Group action complaints. However, both are different in nature and the procedure to be adopted in both cases is quite different. Sec 35 (1) ( c) of CPA, 2019 provides for a Class action complaint which states that “a complaint may be filed by one or more consumers, where th ere are numerous consum ers having the same interest, with the permission of the Consumer Commission, on behalf of or for the benefit of, all consumers so interested.”

Thus, the pre-requisite for filing the Class Action are: (a) there must be numerous consumers, (b) they must have the same, common interest, ( c) the complaint must be for or on behalf of all consumers and (d) such complaint needs the permission of the Consumer Commission. If such permission is granted by the Commission for filing a class action complaint, then the procedure as prescribed under Order 1, Rule 8 of Civil Procedure Code is applicable. This means giving a Public Notice in the newspaper and inviting those co ncer ned consumers to join the proceedings if they so wish. Such Class Action complaint is quite different from group action or joint action complaint.

Taking your concrete case it appears in your project there are 220 homebuyers in your housing project and of which 150 are interested in filing a complaint. Now you have a choice. You have to decide if your group wants to fight only for 150 buyers or you want to fight for all 220. From your question it is not clear about the status of the project and whether all 220 would be interested in exiting the project. So it is advisable for you to file a group complaint of you 150 homebuyers and who all are seeking common relief such as refund with interest and compensation I must also mention that in a case like yours, there are certain advantages in filing a Group or Joint complaint.

Firstly, your filing the group complaint is not subjected to the permission by the Commission. Secondly, such group complaint will not have to comply with Order 1, Rule 8 of Civil Procedure Code, which is both expensive and time consuming. Thirdly, as per the various Supreme Court judgements, although each one of you having paid an amount of Rs20 lakh to Rs80 lakh, all these amounts paid by 150 home buyers will far exceed Rs2 crore threshold of the National Consumer Commission pecuniary jurisdiction and thus you will be able to file the xomplaint directly before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, which will drastically curtail your litigation journey.

If all these consumers were to file the cases individually, those who have paid upto Rs50 lakh would have to approach District Commission and those who have paid more than Rs50 lakh but less than Rs2 crore, would have to file their complaints in the State Consumer Commission. It is true that at one point of time there was some confusion about the class action and group action complaints under CPA due to the National Commission’s judgement in “Ambrish Kumar Shukla” case. However, it has been settled by the Supreme Court in “Brigade Enterprises v/s Anil Kumar Virmani” judgement. Hence in the wider consumer interest, home buyers must file Group complaints for speedy and less expensive reliefs.

Advocate Shirish V Deshpande is chairman, Mumbai Grahak Panchayat. Queries can be sent to him on email: shirish50@yahoo.com

Published on: Monday, July 21, 2025, 10:28 AM IST