JUDGMENT :

Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, J.

1. This appeal arises from a judgment and order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission1 dated 19 February 2016. Declining permission to the complainants to file a composite complaint under the provisions of Section 12(1)(c) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (“Act”), the NCDRC dismissed the consumer complaint (Consumer Complaint No. 1290 of 2015) which was filed before it by twenty-six flat buyers, on the ground that:

“13. …there is nothing common between the aforesaid complainants, so no permission can be granted to the above complainants to file one complaint in view of Section 12(1)(c) of the Act.”

However, the complainants were granted the liberty to institute individual complaints before the appropriate forum.

2. The complaint before the NCDRC was instituted by twenty-six flat buyers, who had booked flats in a residential project (named ‘Oxford Square’) of the first respondent at Sector GH-06, 16B, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh (also known as “Noida Extension”). The following reliefs were sought in the complaint:

"a) Direct the Opposite Party No.1 to withdraw its offer of possession which has been made in absence of a valid Oc