JUDGMENT :

1. The challenge in the present Appeal is based on the interplay between two statutes viz. the Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Regulation of Promotion of Construction, Sale, Management and Transfer) Act, 1963 (‘MOFA’) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority Act, 1974 (“MMRDA Act”).

2. The reliefs sought by the Appellants/Original Plaintiffs are based on enforcement of statutory rights that they claim by application of MOFA on Plot No. 288/B, at Amrut Nagar, Bandivali Village, Jogeshwari (West), Mumbai - 400 102 (“the Suit Plot”). The Respondent No.1/Original Defendant No.1, being the Developer, and Respondent No.8/Original Defendant No.8 i.e. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (“MMRDA”), dispute these rights inter alia on the basis that the provisions of MOFA are expressly excluded in respect of any land or building belonging to or vesting in MMRDA.

3. The Appellants are the Original Plaintiffs in Suit No. 610 of 2020 (“the Suit”) and are 98 in number, 97 of whom are purchasers of flats in a building known as ‘Universal Garden - I’ (“the said Building”) constructed on the Suit Plot. Appellant No. 98 is Universal Garden - I Flat Owners’ Welfare As