Rekha Gupta, Presiding Member—The present first appeal has been filed against the ex parte judgment dated 31.03.2016 passed by the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Mumbai (‘the State Commission’) in Consumer Complaint no. CC/01/72.

2. The facts of the case as per the Respondent/ Complainant are that the Appellant/ Opposite Party society made a grievance as a ‘consumer’ within the meaning of definition ‘consumer’ under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, that the Respondent/ builder/ developer had constructed a building called “Paras Paradise’ situated in plot no. 248 in Sector 21, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400706. The building consisted of 10 flats occupied by flat owners listed in paragraph 1 of the complaint. The Respondent on or about 04.05.1999 obtained the occupation certificate and handed over the flat to the purchasers. The occupants/ flat purchasers found that the building had developed cracks due to poor work-man ship and suffered from leakages in the very first monsoon. These facts were brought to the notice of the Respondent builder/developer by communication dated 19.05.2000 but the Respondent did not bother despite communication made from the Appel