A society of 100-odd past and present teachers of IIT Kharagpur is among the many aggrieved parties queuing up to file cases against realtors, some of them big players. The commonest complaints are delay in delivery of flats and failure to provide the amenities promised at the booking stage.

"There has been a sudden increase in the number of cases against realtors," an official of the commission said. "We are following the directive of the national commission to expedite these cases and have stopped giving adjournments."

For members of the IIT-Kharagpur Housing Society, the wait for their property developer to deliver on his promise has stretched beyond four years. These teachers had purchased 12 plots of land on Kailash Ghosh Road, in Behala, seven years ago and assigned a property developer to build flats there. According to the agreement between the society and the realtor, the flats were to be completed by 2004 and handed over to their respective owners after 90 per cent of the construction cost was paid.