WBREAT: Parallel Proceedings Before Consumer Forum and RERA on Same Cause of Action Not Permissible
Pranav B Prem
The West Bengal Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (WBREAT), Kolkata Bench, has ruled that simultaneous legal proceedings before the Consumer Forum and the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in respect of the same cause of action are not legally sustainable. The Bench comprising Rabindranath Samantha (Chairperson) and Subrat Mukherjee (Administrative Member) passed the order while allowing an appeal filed by Mita Roy, a partner of M/s M.S. Enterprise, against an order of the West Bengal Real Estate Regulatory Authority.
Background of the Case
M/s M.S. Enterprise, a partnership firm engaged in real estate development, entered into a development agreement on 14.10.2015 with Debdutta Chatterjee and Siddharta Chatterjee, along with their mother, for construction on their land measuring 1 cottah 1 chittack 27 sq. ft. in Panihati. Supplementary agreements and a power of attorney followed, including a reconstituted agreement dated 16.09.2020, which provided that possession of the flats would be handed over within 24 months.
Alleging delay in delivery of possession, the complainants initiated proceedings under Section 144 CrPC, which did not yield relief. They subsequently filed a complaint before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, which remains pending. In parallel, they approached the West Bengal RERA, which directed the promoter firm to deliver three flats to the complainants as per the agreement and rejected the application for maintainability filed by Mita Roy. Aggrieved, she filed the present appeal before WBREAT.
Submissions of the Parties
The appellant argued that the complaint before RERA was not maintainable since the complainants had already sought the same reliefs before the Consumer Forum. It was further contended that in Column 7 of the RERA complaint, the complainants had wrongly declared that no other case on the same cause of action was pending.
The complainants, however, submitted that the declaration was due to a bona fide mistake. They also argued that there is no express bar under the RERA Act against pursuing simultaneous remedies, and further contended that the appeal itself was not maintainable as the appellant had not deposited the amount directed by the Authority.
Tribunal’s Observations
The Tribunal first addressed the issue of maintainability of the appeal. It noted that under the proviso to Section 43(5) of the RERA Act, 2016, deposit of penalty is a mandatory condition only if a penalty has been imposed by the Authority. Since no such penalty had been imposed in this case, the Bench rejected the complainants’ objection regarding maintainability. On the question of the false declaration in Column 7, the Bench accepted that it was inadvertent and did not by itself render the complaint invalid. However, the Tribunal compared the remedies sought in both proceedings and found them to be substantially identical.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s decisions in Imperia Structures Ltd. v. Anil Patni and IREO Grace Realtech v. Abhishek Khanna, the Bench held that a complainant cannot simultaneously pursue the same reliefs before two fora. The Tribunal also relied on Section 71 of the RERA Act, which expressly allows a complainant to withdraw a case from the Consumer Forum to file it under RERA, thereby indicating that both cannot continue together.
Holding that the complainants were not legally entitled to pursue simultaneous proceedings, the Tribunal set aside the order of the West Bengal RERA rejecting the maintainability application. The appeal filed by Mita Roy was accordingly allowed. The WBREAT’s ruling clarifies that while homebuyers and landowners have the option to choose between the Consumer Forum and RERA, they cannot pursue parallel remedies on the same cause of action. In this case, since the complainants had already approached the Consumer Forum, their RERA complaint was held unsustainable.
Cause Title: Mrs. Mita Roy V. Debdutta Chatterjee
Case No: WBREAT Appeal No. 003/2025
Coram: Rabindranath Samantha (Chairperson), Subrat Mukherjee (Administrative Member)
