IMPORTANT POINT
Plaint can be rejected as a whole or not at all.

JUDGMENT :

A.M. Khanwilkar, J.

Leave granted.

2. These appeals take exception to the common judgment and order passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay (Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction) in Appeal Nos.360, 361, 362 and Commercial Appeal No.172 of 2017 dated 26th October, 2018, whereby the notice of motion(s) filed by respondent No.1-Axis Bank Ltd. (one of the defendant in the suits filed by the respective appellant(s)) came to be allowed and as a result of which, the suit filed by the concerned appellant(s) had been dismissed as against respondent No.1-Axis Bank Ltd., by invoking the provisions of Order 7 Rule 11(d) of the Civil Procedure Code (for short “CPC”).

3. The appellant(s) being the original plaintiff(s) in the respective suit(s) wanted to purchase flats in a project known as ‘Orbit Heaven’ (for short “the project”) being developed by Orbit Corporation Ltd. (In Liq.) (for short “The builder”), at Nepean Sea Road in Mumbai and in furtherance thereof parted with huge amounts of money to the builder ranging in several crores although the construction of the project was under way. The appellant(s) had started paying installments towards the consideration of the concerned flats from 2009. Admittedly, no registered agreement/document for purchase of concerned flats has been executed in favour of respective appellant(s). The appellant(s), however, would rely on the correspondence and including the letter of allotment issued by the builder in respect of concerned flats to assert that there was an agreement between them and the builder in respect of the earmarked flat(s) mentioned therein and which had statutory protection.

4. The respondent No.1-bank gave loan facility to builder against the project only around year 2013, aggregating to principal sum of Rupees 150 Crores in respect of which a mortgage deed is said to have been executed between the builder and the bank. That transaction came to the notice of the concerned plaintiff(s) only after publication of a public notice on 13th September, 2016 in Economic Times, informing the general public that the said project (Orbit Heaven) has been mortgaged. The sum and substance of the assertion made by the appellant(s) is that the appellant(s) were kept in the dark whilst the mortgage transaction was executed between the builder and the bank whereunder their rights have been unilaterally jeo-pardised, to receive possession of the concerned flats earmarked in the allotment letter(s) and in respect of which the concerned appellant(s) have paid substantial contribution and the aggregate contribution of all the plaintiff(s) would be much more than the loan amount given by the bank to the builder in terms of the mortgage deed for the entire project. In this backdrop, the concerned appellant(s) had asked for reliefs not only against the builder but also concerned parties joined as defendant(s) in the suit(s) filed by them and including respondent No.1-bank.

5. The reliefs claimed by the concerned appellant(s) in separate suit(s) filed by them are more or less similar. We may presently refer to the reliefs claimed in suit No.8 of 2017 filed by Padma Ashok Bhatt (appellant in civil appeal arising from SLP (C) No.30900 of 2018), the same read thus :

“The Plaintiff therefore prays:

(a) That the Defendant No.1 be ordered and decreed to complete the Flat Nos.2302 and 2402 in the Project “Orbit Haven” situate at Darabshaw Lane, Nepean Sea Road, Mumbai-400036 as per the agreement being letter of confirmation dated 16th April 2009 and receipts executed by Defendant No.1 in favour of the Plaintiff and hand over the possession of Flat Nos.2302 and 2402 to the Plaintiff and that the Defendant No.1 and Defendant No.15 be jointly and/or severally be ordered and directed to comply with all the obligations under Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act including, but not limited to, (i) the execution of the Agreement in terms of Section 4 of Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, (ii) completing the building as p