State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
Sarbjit Singh S/O. Avtar Singh vs M/S Av Infratech Through Its Director on 18 November, 2025
Additional Bench
STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION,
PUNJAB, CHANDIGARH.
Consumer Complaint No.62 of 2025
Date of institution : 20.09.2025
Reserved on : 03.11.2025
Date of Decision : 18.11.2025
1. Mr.Sarbjit Singh S/o Sh.Avtar Singh, aged about 67 years, R/o
Flat No.2-B, Second Floor, Ananta Lifestyle, PR-7 Road, Village
Chhat, Sub-Tehsil Zirakpur, District SAS Nagar, Punjab.
2. Mrs.Rajwant Kaur, W/o Sh.Sarbjit Singh, aged about 58 years,
R/o Flat No.1-B, Second Floor, Ananta Lifestyle, PR-7 Road,
Village Chhat, Sub-Tehsil Zirakpur, District SAS Nagar, Punjab.
3. Mr.Suresh Kakkar, S/o Sh.Murari Lal Kakkar, aged about 67
years, R/o Flat No.48-B, Second Floor, Ananta Lifestyle, PR-7
Road, Village Chhat, Sub-Tehsil, Zirakpur, District SAS Nagar,
Punjab.
4. Mrs. Umangi Srivastava, W/o Sh.Rishabh Srivastava, aged
about 30 years, R/o Flat No.26-A, First Floor, Ananta Lifestyle,
PR-7 Road, Village Chhat, Sub-Tehsil Zirakpur, District SAS
Nagar, Punjab.
....Complainants
Versus
1. M/s AV Infratech, Regd. Office Ananta Aspire, NH-7,
Chandigarh-Patiala Highway, Zirakpur, Punjab-140603.
2. Mr.Ashish Gupta, Director, M/s AV Infratech, Plot No.302, GH-
83-B, Sector 20, Panchkula-134109, Haryana, Mobile 98780-
30444.
.....Opposite Parties.
Consumer Complaint under Section 47 of
the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Consumer Complaint No.62 of 2025 2
Quorum:-
Mr. Harinderpal Singh Mahal, Presiding Judicial Member
Mrs. Kiran Sibal, Member Present:
For the complainant : Sh.Cheetan Sood, Advocate HARINDERPAL SINGH MAHAL, PRESIDING JUDICIAL MEMBER The complainant - Sarabjit Singh & Ors. have filed this complaint under Section 47 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, (in short "C.P. Act") for the indulgence of this Commission for seeking following directions to the opposite parties:-
A. Direct the opposite party to obtain and furnish the following approvals within a fixed time frame:
i) Occupancy Certificate from the competent authority.
ii) Fire Safety NOC;
iii) Pollution Control Board NOC in respect of the Sewage
Treatment Plant;
iv) STP fitness certificate from the Punjab Water Supply
and Sewage Board;
v) Any other pending statutory approvals required under
law.
B. Rectify and make functional all project amenities and civil infrastructure as assured in promotional material, the brochure, and the Flat Buyer's Agreement/Agreement to Sell, including;
i) Clubhouse, gym, yoga deck, and indoor recreational facilities;Consumer Complaint No.62 of 2025 3
ii) STP and rainwater harvesting system;
iii) Power backup of 5kW per unit, including essential
common services;
iv) Intercom and CCTV systems, security gates, parking,
fire exits, and elevators;
v) Structural repairs and rectification of construction
defects such as cracks, seepage, dampness, defective plastering, paint deterioration, and other deficiencies affecting the safety, durability and habitability of the residential units and common areas.
C. Cease and desist from raising or collecting any maintenance charges, common area electricity charges, or other society related charges until the Occupancy Certificate and all statutory approvals are obtained;
D. Refund the entire amount collected toward maintenance charges prior to the date of obtaining the Occupancy Certificate, along with interest @12% p.a. from the date of each payment till refund;
E. Compensation and Damages:
i) Award compensation of Rs.20,00,000/- (Twenty Lakhs Only) per residential unit to the complainants towards mental agony, harassment, environmental and safety violations and inconvenience caused due to prolonged statutory non-compliance and lack of basic amenities; Consumer Complaint No.62 of 2025 4
ii) Award punitive damages of Rs.5,00,000/- (Five Lakhs Only) to deter such systemic abuse of consumer rights and disregard of legal obligations by the Opposite Party.
iii) Award cost of litigation of Rs.50,000/- or as deemed appropriate by this Hon'ble Commission.
F. Direct the opposite party to produce complete, verifiable and duly audited accounts of the Rs.50,000/- collected from each allottee towards Interest-Free Maintenance Security (IFMS), disclosing the present balance, manner of custody, utilization (if any), and placing the same before this Hon'ble Commission along with a plan for eventual handover or third-party management/RWA in a fair and transparent manner; and G. Any other order or relief as this Hon'ble Commission may deem just and proper in the interest of justice, equity and consumer welfare.
2. Brief facts culminating to the institution of the present complaint are that the complainants being the husband and wife applied for allotment of a unit in the project of the opposite party named "Ananta Lifestyle" located at PR-7 Road, Village Chhat, Zirakpur and they were allotted a Flat No.2-B, 2nd Floor, having total built up area of 906.75 sq.ft. A Flat Buyer's Agreement was executed with opposite party on 27.08.2021. The complainant No.1 has duly paid a total sale consideration of Rs.24,00,000/- in favour of the opposite party as per the terms and conditions of the agreement. The opposite party then issued an Offer of Possession dated 01.01.2022 but the same was not accompanied by an Occupancy Certificate from Consumer Complaint No.62 of 2025 5 the competent authorities. Further, it is submitted that despite material deficiency, the opposite party proceeded to register the Sale Deed in favour of complainant No.1 on 11.03.2022. An amount of Rs.1,33,000/- was also paid by complainant No.1 to the opposite party, vide RTGS on 03.02.2021 on account of GST, IFMS, Power Backup Charges and GST on Power Backup. After the registration of the sale deed, the complainant No.1 took the possession of the said flat in good faith.
3. Similarly, complainant No.2, who is the wife of complainant No.1 applied for the allotment of flat in the same society and she was allotted flat No.1-B on 2nd Floor, having total built up area 906.75 sq.ft. An agreement was also executed between complainant No.2 and opposite party on 27.08.2021. She has paid the total sale consideration of Rs.24,00,000/-. The opposite party further issued an Offer of Possession letter dated 01.01.2022 but the same was not accompanied with the Occupancy Certificate. Despite material deficiency, the opposite party proceeded to register the sale deed in favour of complainant No.2 on 11.03.2022. Thereafter, the complainant No.2 took the possession of the said flat in good faith.
4. Complainant No.3-Sh.Suresh Kakkar also applied for the allotment of flat in the same society and he was allotted flat No.48-B on 2nd Floor, having total built up area 906.75 sq.ft. An agreement was also executed between complainant No.2 and opposite party on 01.09.2021. He has paid the total sale consideration of Rs.25,00,000/-. The opposite party has not issued any Offer of Possession letter to complainant No.3. Even the opposite party had not obtained the Consumer Complaint No.62 of 2025 6 Occupancy Certificate. It is submitted that the physical possession of the flat was handed over by the opposite party, however, such possession was merely perfunctory and symbolic in nature as relevant approvals have not been obtained by the opposite party. Subsequent to that, after registration of the sale deed, complainant No.3 took the possession of the said flat in good faith.
5. Whereas complainant No.4-Mrs.Umangi Srivastava applied for the allotment of flat in the same society and she was allotted flat No.26-A on 1st Floor, having total built up area 906.75 sq.ft. An agreement was also executed between complainant No.2 and opposite party on 22.08.2021. She has paid the total sale consideration of Rs.21,00,000/- and an additional amount of Rs.1,00,000/- on account of Power Back up and IFMS. The opposite party has not issued any Offer of Possession letter to complainant No.3. Even the opposite party had not obtained the Occupancy Certificate. It is submitted that the physical possession of the flat was handed over by the opposite party, however, such possession was merely perfunctory and symbolic in nature as relevant approvals have not been obtained by the opposite party. Subsequent to that, after registration of the sale deed dated 25.01.2022, complainant No.4 took the possession of the said flat in good faith.
6. In the present complaint, all four complainants have raised identical prayers, alleging that the opposite party failed to obtain the requisite approvals from the competent authorities. However, despite the grievances relating to different flats allotted to each complainant, a single composite complaint has been filed.
Consumer Complaint No.62 of 2025 7
7. A careful perusal of the memo of parties reveals that the present complaint has been instituted by four different individuals, each having independent ownership of separate apartments, and who are in no manner related to one another. Learned counsel for the complainants has asserted that since all the persons are having the same grievance so they can file the joint complaint and as prescribed under the Code of Civil Procedure, this complaint is maintainable.
8. Before proceeding further, lets have a look into the provisions of CPC for representative suit, which are envisaged under Order-I,, Rule 8A. The same is reproduced as under:
"8.A. Power of Court to permit a person or body of persons to present opinion or to take part in the proceedings- While trying a suit, the Court may, if satisfied that a person or body of persons is interested in any question of law which is directly and substantially in issue the suit and that it is necessary in the public interest to allow that person or body of persons to present his or its opinion on that question of law, permit that person or body of persons to present such opinion and to take such part in the proceedings of the suit as the Court may specify."
9. A careful perusal of this provision of the CPC shows that, although a Court may permit a representative suit, such permission can be granted only when the Court is satisfied that the action is in the interest of law as well as in the interest of the public, and only after obtaining prior leave of the Court. However, in the present case, the four complainants are different individuals with separate ownership of their respective properties. Merely because their apartments are situated within the same society, namely 'Ananta Lifestyle,' does not confer upon them the eligibility to file a joint complaint. Consumer Complaint No.62 of 2025 8
10. From the perusal of the complaint, it is evident that the complainants have filed a joint complaint primarily to bring the matter within the pecuniary jurisdiction of this Commission. The value of each individual property indicates that, if filed separately, none of the complainants would fall within the pecuniary limits of this Commission, as their individual claims are substantially lower than the requisite jurisdictional threshold, which amounts to Forum hunting. For more clarification, we are reproducing the relevant Section 47 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which is as under:
"47. Jurisdiction of the State Commission - (1) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the State Commission shall have jurisdiction-
(a) to entertain -complaints where value of the goods or services paid as consideration exceeds 50 lakh rupees but does not exceed 2 crore rupees."
11. We are of the considered opinion that there is no provision under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 that permits the filing of such a joint complaint, and even the provisions of the CPC, which apply only to a limited extent, do not support the maintainability of this joint action.
12. In view of the above discussions, we do not find any merit in the complaint filed by the complainants. Accordingly, the same is hereby dismissed being not maintainable.
(HARINDERPAL SINGH MAHAL) PRESIDING JUDICIAL MEMBER (KIRAN SIBAL) MEMBER November 18th ,2025 parmod