A Mumbai homebuyer filed before MahaRERA over a delayed flat, then withdrew that complaint with permission to refile. Instead of going back to RERA, she took the same grievance to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. The Supreme Court shut that second door in February 2026.
Short answer: You usually get to choose. A homebuyer can use either RERA or the consumer court for a builder dispute, because they are concurrent remedies (Imperia Structures v. Anil Patni, (2020) 10 SCC 783). But once you elect and actively pursue one forum for a grievance, the doctrine of election generally bars you from switching to the other forum for the same cause of action (Kabra & Associates v. Rekha Rajkumar Hemdev, Civil Appeal No. 6936/2023, decided 4 February 2026).
The freedom to pick a forum is real, but it has a limit most buyers never hear about. This article leads with the decision flow so you can see, before you file anything, which forum to pick and what locks you in.
Work through these in order before you file.
| Question | RERA | Consumer court |
|---|---|---|
| Governing law | Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 | Consumer Protection Act, 2019 |
| Best for | Refund and interest on delayed possession, project-level orders | Compensation for deficiency in service, unfair trade practice |
| Are they concurrent? | Yes. You may choose either (Imperia Structures, 2020) | Yes. You may choose either |
| What counts as electing | Filing and actively pursuing a complaint there for the grievance | Filing and actively pursuing a complaint there for the grievance |
| Can you switch later? | Not for the same cause of action once you have elected and pursued the other forum | Same rule both ways |
In Kabra & Associates v. Rekha Rajkumar Hemdev, Civil Appeal No. 6936/2023, decided 4 February 2026, the bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and K. Vinod Chandran applied the doctrine of election.
The Court put it plainly:
An election of a remedy arises when two concurrent remedies are available and the aggrieved party chooses to exercise one.
On the facts, the complainants had filed before MahaRERA and then withdrawn that complaint with liberty to refile before the same authority. Having elected the RERA track, they could not later bring a fresh Consumer Protection Act complaint before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission for the identical cause of action. The second forum was barred.
Read the judgment narrowly. It does not say homebuyers must avoid the consumer court after RERA in general. It says: once you pick and pursue one of two concurrent forums, you generally cannot switch to the other for the same complaint.
The baseline is set by Imperia Structures Ltd v. Anil Patni, (2020) 10 SCC 783, where the Supreme Court held that remedies under RERA and the Consumer Protection Act are concurrent. A homebuyer (an “allottee” in RERA language) is not forced into one channel. The 2026 ruling sits on top of that baseline: it limits switching after you have chosen, but it does not remove your initial choice.
So both things are true at once:
For the mechanics of each route, see how to file a RERA complaint and how to file a consumer forum complaint on e-Jagriti.
You may choose either one. RERA and the Consumer Protection Act are concurrent remedies (Imperia Structures, (2020) 10 SCC 783). But you generally cannot run both, or switch between them, for the same cause of action once you have elected and actively pursued one forum. That switch is what the 2026 Kabra ruling bars.
No, not as a blanket rule. The 2026 ruling is narrow. It bars switching to the consumer court for the identical cause of action after you have elected and pursued the RERA remedy. It does not say RERA forecloses the consumer court for every future or distinct grievance.
It is a common-law rule. When two concurrent remedies are available, and you choose to exercise one, you lose the right to simultaneously exercise the other for the same cause of action. The Supreme Court applied exactly this rule to a RERA-versus-consumer-court fact pattern in Kabra & Associates v. Rekha Rajkumar Hemdev (2026).
In the Kabra case the answer was no. The buyers withdrew before RERA with liberty to refile before the same authority, then tried the NCDRC for the same cause of action, and the Supreme Court barred it. Liberty to refile in the same forum is not a route into a different forum for the same complaint.
The lock-in attaches when you elect and actively pursue a remedy for a grievance, not at the idle availability of two forums. Because the exact trigger turns on your facts, decide your forum deliberately at the first filing and take advice if you are unsure.
No. The election bar applies to the same cause of action. A separate, distinct grievance is a different cause of action and is not blocked by the fact that you used a forum for an earlier, different problem.
Many buyers use RERA for delay and refund, because Section 18 of the RERA Act deals with refund and interest when the builder fails to give possession on time. The consumer court is often chosen for broader compensation for deficiency in service. Match the forum to the relief you actually want, then commit.
Author: Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak.