A complaint filed under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, challenging the allotment of marginal land made in 1982, is barred by limitation if it was filed in 1990, as the claim had become time-barred under the Limitation Act, 1963, long before the coming into force of the Consumer Protection Act.

Mr. Justice R.G. Desai, President— The facts giving raise to this complaint may be briefly stated as follows:—

2. The Bangalore Development Authority (for short the BDA), the Respondent herein formed a layout of residential sites in the scheme called “West of Chord Road II Stage”. The plan of the Layout showing therein the formation of sites including the Site No. 669 allotted to the complainant is at Annexure-A produced along with the complaint. Site No. 669 measuring 80’ x 120’ was allotted to the complainant on 12.8.1970. Due to curvature at the time of handing over possession, the site measuring 80 ft. East to West end 126’9”+ 118’6”/2 North to South was delivered to the complainant on 3.4.1973 excluding the triangular bit of land lying on the western side of Site No. 669 in between the said site and Site No. 670. According to the complainant that was a mistake committed due to the inadvertence of the officials of the B.D.A. The complainant on 4.1.1979 filed a complaint about it to the Respondent and he received an endorsement that the measurements of his site would be rectified as per its letter dated 31.7.1989, a copy of which is enclosed to the complaint as Annexure-B. But the BDA failed to rectify the measurements of Site No. 669. On the other hand, the BDA treated the triangular bit of land as a marginal land and distributed it to the allottees of Site Nos. 669, 670 and 671. The complainant came to know about it on 4.5.1983, when he personally went to the BDA and collected the endorsement regarding the allotment of that marginal land and complained about it to the then Commissioner of the BDA on 6th and 7th of May 1973 and the Commissioner ordered on his complaint that measurement of 118’6” being committed by the BDA should be given to Site No. 669 on the Western side. When the purchasers of Site Nos. 670 and 671 started construction and when the BDA officials did not stop the unlawful construction by them, the complainant filed O.S. No. 1120/1987 against the purchaser of Site No. 671 and the said suit was dismissed on the ground that the complainant had not given prior notice to the BDA. The complainant spent Rs. 10,000/- for that suit. Then the complainant gave a petition to the Commissioner of the BDA to rectify the measurements of his site on the lines indicated in the judgment rendered by the Karnataka High Court in W.P. No. 10792/1980, the xerox copy of which is produced as Annexure-E to the complaint. But no rectification was done and the BDA Engineers have started their mischievous tactics of putting up unfounded and baseless adverse notes on his application. Hence the complainant has filed this complaint complaining about the deficiency in service and the delay in rectification by the BDA. He has prayed for the following reliefs in his complaint:—

(a) that the Chairman, BDA may be ordered to give a measurement of 118’6” on the Western side of Site No. 669 including the piece of land measuring 0+26/2 X 117’+118’6’/2.

(b) that the Chairman, BDA may be ordered to take necessary action to remove the encroachment of land measuring 0+26/2 x 126’9”/2 by the owner of Site No. 668 and to include it in Site No. 669.

(c) the Chairman, BDA may be ordered to pay a compensation of Rs. 10 lakhs to the complainant (Rs. 50,000/- per year for 20 years for the damages suffered by him) on account of intense mental and physical agony due to the high handed action of the officers of the BDA and the expenses incurred by him for the innumerable trips made by him to the BDA.

3. The complaint is registered by the Respondent by contending inter alia that the complainant is not entitled to more area than 9600 Sq.ft. which was allotted to him as per the allotment order dated 12.8.1970; that the complainant was given possession of an area measuring 9810 Sq.ft. as per the Possession Certificate; that including the marginal land allotted to the complainant, the complainant was given possession of an area measuring 10639.50 Sq.ft. as p