Home-Buyer's Earnest Money Dispute: SC Tags Writ Petition with Civil Appeal, Maintains Open Legal Proceedings.

The petitioner, a home-buyer, sought a refund of earnest money under RERA. Reclassified as a financial creditor during CIRP, the NCLT approved a scheme for partial payment. The NCLAT dismissed a belated appeal on limitation grounds, upheld by the SC. The petitioner invoked Article 32, requesting the writ petition be tagged with a pending Civil Appeal. The SC directed the writ petition to be tagged with the Civil Appeal, keeping the maintainability issue open for joint legal proceedings.

---

---

Issues:
1. Refund of earnest money to a home-buyer in a project under RERA.
2. Reclassification of the petitioner as a financial creditor during Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).
3. Appeal dismissal by National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on the point of limitation.
4. Invocation of writ jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.
5. Request for tagging the writ petition with a pending Civil Appeal.

Analysis:
1. The petitioner, a home-buyer in a Gurugram project, sought a refund of earnest money with interest as ordered by RERA. The company entered CIRP, and the Resolution Professional initially accepted the petitioner's claim. However, upon submitting a revised claim in Form F, the petitioner was reclassified as a financial creditor, leading to approval of a scheme by NCLT for partial payment.

2. The petitioner's belated appeal before NCLAT was dismissed on the grounds of limitation, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court. Seeking full payment, the petitioner invoked writ jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution of India to receive the entire accepted amount from the Resolution Professional.

3. Notably, a related Civil Appeal is pending consideration before the Court, and the petitioner requested tagging the writ petition with it. Despite opposition, the Court decided to keep the issue of maintainability open and directed the writ petition to be tagged with the mentioned Civil Appeal, allowing further legal proceedings to be conducted jointly.

---