Bhasin Infotech And Infrastructure Private Limited v. Neema Agarwal & Ors.
Background
This is a referral order, not a final judgment. The builder was late in filing its written reply to a consumer complaint before the National Consumer Commission and asked for the delay to be excused.
Decision Breakdown
This is a referral order, not a final judgment. The bench found that two earlier benches, in Daddy's Builders and Dr. A. Suresh Kumar, took conflicting views on how the Constitution Bench ruling in New India Assurance v. Hilli Multipurpose Cold Storage applies to pending applications to excuse such delay. It held that a larger bench should decide the issue and placed the matter before the Chief Justice of India.
Lesson Learnt
There is no final ruling yet. Whether a late reply in a pending consumer case can be accepted was left to a larger bench.