DR DHANANJAYA Y CHANDRACHUD,J. - (1.) The petitioners are home buyers in a group housing project, Canary Greens in Sector 73, Gurgaon, being developed by the first respondent. Home buyer agreements were entered into between the eleven petitioners and the first respondent. Clause 21 of the agreements envisaged that possession of the apartments would be delivered within a period of thirty-six months, which in almost all cases was to be in 2014.
(2.) The grievance of the petitioners is that the project was abandoned by the developer. As a result, they instituted proceedings [Consumer Complaint Nos 1242, 1243, 1245, 1246, 1248, 1249, 1250 and 1251 of 2017] before the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission ["NCDRC"] seeking refund of their moneys with interest. On 12 July 2018, the NCDRC allowed their claim by directing the first respondent to refund the principal amount paid by the petitioners together with 12 per cent interest from the date of deposit along with costs within four weeks. There was a provision in the order for interest being enhanced to 14 per cent if the amount was not paid within the stipulated period. This order of the NCDRC has attained finality.
(3.) Execution proceedings [EA Nos 158, 159, 161-162, 164-166 and 168 of 2018] under Sections 25 and 27 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 ["COPRA"] were instituted by the petitioners. The NCDRC issued notice on 7 September 2018. In the meantime, certain orders were passed by the NCDRC on 23 October 2018 in separate execution proceedings pertaining to other home buyers in the same housing project. The first respondent challenged this order of the NCDRC before the High Court of Delhi [CM(M) No 1391 of 2018], and by an order dated 19 November 2018, the order of the NCDRC dated 23 October 2018 was stayed by the Delhi High Court.;