(1.) The present First Appeal has been filed under Sec. 19 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1968 ('the Act') against the Order dtd. 8/7/2016 passed by the West Bengal State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Kolkata, ('the State Commission'), in Complaint Case No. CC/187/2015.
(2.) Brief facts, as per the Appellant/Complainant that he entered into an Agreement for Sale with the Respondent/ OP Nos. 1 and 2/ Developer to purchase the flat in question at a consideration of Rs.25,00,000.00. Upon the execution of the Agreement, the Appellant paid part consideration amount of Rs.22,00,000.00 in cash. It was mutually agreed that the balance Rs.3,00,000.00 would be settled at the time of possession/registration by April 2015. However, he alleged that the Respondents/OPs failed to fulfill their obligations within the stipulated time, leading to filing of the Consumer Complaint (CC/187/2015) before the Ld. State Commission.
(3.) The State Commission initially admitted the complaint in its Order dtd. 9/6/2015 and issued interim order under Sec. 13(3B) of the Act, directing the Respondents/OPs to refrain from creating any third-party interest in the property until the next hearing on 5/1/2016. On receiving notice, the Respondents/OPs appeared on 11/9/2015 and filed two Applications: MA/771/2015 and MA/772/2015 seeking respectively the vacation of interim order dtd. 9/6/2015 and challenging the complaint's maintainability on the grounds that the Complainant had not paid any earnest money or part consideration, thus not qualifying as a Consumer under Sec. 2(1)(d) of the Act, rendering the complaint non-maintainable. The State Commission allowed both MAs, consequently rejecting the Complaint as barred by the provisions of the Act. The relevant excerpt of the impugned Order dtd. 8/7/2016 is provided below: