TORTS - II

CONSUMER REDRESSAL FORA

Roll Number: 13LLB17

CLASS: B.A., LL.B. (Hons.), First Year, Second Semester

SUBMITTED TO: DR. SUSHILA

2o18

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, DELHI

TABLE OF CONTENT

S.NO CHAPTER ORDERING

1 CHAPTER I SYNOPSIS

2 CHAPTERII INTRODUCTION

3 CHAPTER III CONSUMER REDRESSAL

FORUMS

4 CHAPTER IV CONCLUDING REMARKS

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my deep gratitude towards my Torts Professor, DR. SUSHILA for giving
me an opportunity to work upon such a knowledgeable topic and her wonderful and enlightening
directions. This project wouldn’t have been possible without her crucial guidance. She went
beyond her duty to provide her insightful consultations. This project at hand is an outcome of her
continuous support and guidance. The lectures provided in the class are an important source for
the completion of the current project.

I would also like to thank my friends and family for helping me out in moral and material terms
for the purpose of the project. I also thank Library staff for providing useful books and relevant
materials. In the end I once again profusely Thank my Torts teacher Dr. Sushila.
CHAPTER I

SYNOPSIS

INTRODUCTION

Educated and enabled consumers are the foundation of an energetic economy. The matter of any
manufacturer, specialist co-op, dealer or retailer thrives upon consumers request. In a nation like
India, where a fair number of population are living beneath the poverty line, having bleek state of
joblessness. many of them don't have sufficient data about products and administrations they are
utilizing. dishonest market practices of a few unscrupulous organizations. A blend of new
advances and globalization of the world.

Economy has additionally fomented the issue. The unrest in electronic media in 21st century
alongside globalization and technological advancement has changed market practices. It has
prompted immense extension of business with a range of products and enterprises to
accommodate the requirements of the consumers which have left the buyers additionally
confounded and befuddled.

In such circumstance , the administration, in any case, has an essential obligation to secure the
consumers interests and rights through suitable measures, legitimate structures and authoritative
system.

The government in past have tried to overcome the challenges through enactments and one such
example is the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act, 1969, the other Acts
were for the most part corrective and preventive in nature. Inspite of these Acts the buyers did
not have a successful instrument or institutional game plan for quick and reasonable redressal of
their grievances. In addition, absence of a successful prevalent consumer development
deassociated the consumer and his situation just expanded. Henceforth perceiving the
requirement for preparing aconsumer, to be careful and enabled as for his rights, the Indian
Parliament instituted the Consumer Protection Act in 1986.
The Consumer Protection Act is an exceptionally extraordinary and exceedingly dynamic bit of
social welfare enactment and the arrangements are expected to give successful solutions to the
consumer’s problems.

It accommodates setting up a three level redressal mechanism and transfer of grievances in a

time span. Be that as it may, the achievement of the customer development relies on the level of
mindfulness among the shoppers everywhere about their rights and cures accessible.

The Act has been in task throughout its inseption, the, yet there are inadequacies and weakness in
regard of its successful execution and activity. The motivation behind the three level semi legal
structure was to give fast and modest equity to the consumers. in any case, the system is filled
with numerous issues making it troublesome for the complainant to get solution in the
recommended time. The issue is additionally agrovated by the low level of mindfulness among
the consumers. Indeed, even following approximately 3o years of the consumer movement,
concerns are being raised with respect to the level of consciousness of the consumers inspite of
numerous means taken at the local and state government level to create awareness among the
majority. Its time to assess the effect and viability of the Consumer Protection Act and take
suitable measure needed for fortifying the customer development.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Consumers are the backbone for any economy to sustain, Given the existing malpractices by the
shopkeepers cuppled with inadequate laws to support the needs of the consumers. It is imparitive
to analyse the existing redressal mechanism for a provided under Consumer Protection Act 1986.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

 Assessment of evolution of concept of consumer redressal mechanism.

 To study the functioning of the Consumer redressal fora.
 Try and suggest possible recommendations to fill the fractures in the existing system.

RESEARCH QUESTION

1. How does the system of consumer redressal fora function?

2. What are the relevant loopholes in the existing system?
3. What are the possible corrections to make the redressal system more vibrant?

HYPOTHESIS

Consumer redressal agencies are playing a pertinent role in providing needful solutions to the
consumers. These forums have been expedient in protecting the consumers from falling prey to
bad practices of the shopkeepers and traders. However, it requires certain changes to meet the
present issues.
Chapter II

INTRODUCTION

The consumer movement in India is as old as trade and commerce. In Kautilya‟s Arthashastra,
there are references to the concept of consumer protection against exploitation by the trade and
industry, short weighment and measures, adulteration and punishment for these offences.

However, there was no organized and systematic movement actually safeguarding the interests of
the consumers. With the advent of the 2oth century due to rapid industrialization and multifaceted
development in India after the Independence, there appeared a flood of consumer goods and
services in the Indian Market, which almost changed the relationship between the consumer and
the trader.

Technological advancements in the field of media led to flooding of advertisements of goods and
services further worsening the otherwise grim situation. Lack of consumer awareness, illiteracy,
poverty, etc. further led to the exploitation of consumers Awareness of consumer rights varies in
different regions in the country. It is very poor especially among the population in rural and far-
flung areas of the country. Compared to the developed countries, the levels of consumer
awareness in such a vast country with a large population like India is much lower.

This is rooted in economic inequality, low levels of literacy and ignorance. Because of this,
consumers are not able to assert their rights and on many occasions are exploited by the trade and
industry and service providers. Protecting and promoting the welfare of consumers has thus
become one of the major concerns. Globalisation and liberalisation of trade and business has
resulted in many products and services being available to the consumers. Growth in economy has
resulted in increase in the purchasing power of the middle class section, which is the largest
segment of the population. This has necessitated giving high priority for the protection of the
consumers and promotion of responsible consumer movement in the country.
Modern technological growth and complexities of the sellers‟ techniques, existence of a vast army
of middlemen and unethical and untruthful advertisements have aggravated the situation of
consumer exploitation

The consumer has to be aware of his rights and play a key role. The success of consumerism is a
strong function of consumer awareness and to avoid exploitation consumer must become
knowledgeable.

CHAPTER III

CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL AGENCIES Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
Double underline, Small caps

With a view to provide for effective remedies to the grievances of the consumers, the
CoNSUMER PRoTECTIoN ACT 1986, envisages for the establishment of consumer disputes
redressal adjudicatory bodies at the district, state and the national levels. Stipulated in a
hierarchical order, these agencies are to be set up by the appropriate competent governments. The
complaints of the consumers are ordinarily to be routed through the lowest level of the body and
case may go to the higher bodies only by way of appeal. However, the final appeal against the
orders of the national commission may lie with the Supreme Court whose verdict on the matter
would be final and binding on all the parties.

The proceedings before these adjudicatory bodies are regulated in accordance with the stipulations
of the 1986, and also the principles of natural justice. These agencies are required to decide
complaint, as far as possible, within a period of three months from the date of notice received by
the opposite party where complaint does not requires analysis or testing of commodities and within
five months if it requires analysis of testing of the commodities. Thus, these agencies are designed
to provide inexpensive and speedy justice to the common consumers.

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM

Standing at the bottom of the hierarchy of the consumer disputes rederssal agencies, the District
Forum is set up to adjudicate the complaints where the compensation sought is not more than Rs.
Twenty lakhs. Normally, the District Forum is to consist of a President and two other members.
The President of the Forum is to be person who is or has been or is qualified to be a District Judge
and is nominated by the state government. The other two members of the Forum are required to be
persons of eminence in the field of education, trade or commerce, and one of such member needs
to be a woman. Educationally, the members of the District Forum need to possess at least a
graduation degree.

To ensure some sort of impartiality and autonomy in the functioning of the District Forum, the
appointments to it are made by the state government on the recommendations of a selection
committee consisting of the President of the State Consumer Disputes redressal Commission,
Secretary of the Department of Law and the Secretary in charge of the department dealing with
the consumer affairs in the state. Holding the office for a term of five years or up to the age of
sixty-five years, the members of the Forum are not eligible for reappointment to the same
positions.

The jurisdiction of the District Forum is in consonance with practices followed with regard to
other quasi-judicial bodies in the country. Thus, while the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Forum
extends to the matters up to Rs. Twenty lakhs, its territorial jurisdiction demands that either each
or whole number of the opposite parties reside or carry on business or personally work for gain in
the district or the cause of action, wholly or partly, has arisen within the territorial limits of the
district.

Having satisfied the jurisdictional requirements of the District Forum, a complaint may be filed
by an identifiable complainant before the Forum in the prescribed manner. Not only the document
of complaint needs to be submitted along with the application of complaint, the deposition of
requisite fee of the Forum is one of the mandatory requirements before the complaint is admitted
by the Forum. once the complaint is admitted, the Forum refers a copy of the complaint to the
opposite party directing it to file its replies to the complaint within a period of thirty days which
may be extended by a maximum of fifteen days in certain eventuality by the Forum. Normally, in
its reply to the complaint, the opposite party is prone to deny the complaint, thereby placing the
Forum in a quasi-judicial position to decide the matter in a fair and free manner. Moreover, in
order to verify the claims and counter claims of the parties, the Forum may take recourse to
enquiry, testing and scientific aids. For instance, in case of complaint for some defective goods,
first the defects in the goods are categorized whether they require some sort of testing or not.
Having established that, separate procedures are followed in case of defects in goods requiring
testing and defects in the goods not requiring testing.

once the District Forum arrives at the final decision in the case in view of the findings of its
enquiry, if any, or from the documentary evidences available to it, it may issue appropriate order
to the opposite party to compensate the complainant in an adequate manner. The relief provided
by the District Forum may range from the removal of the defect as pointed out by the laboratory
testing to the outright return to the complainant the price of the goods or the charges for the
services. It may also issue suitable orders with regard to the costs as well. However, no relief can
be permitted by the Forum outside the scope of the relief provided for in Section 14 of the Act. If
the opposite party finds the order of the District Forum inflicting injustice to it, it may file an
appeal against such order to the State Consumer Disputes Rederssal Commission within a period
of thirty days which may be overlooked by the State Commission if it is satisfied that sufficient
cause existed for the delay in filing appeal within the stipulated period. Thus, even in cases of
appeal being made to the State Commission, the District Forum remains the starting point for
filing complaint in ordinary cases falling within the pecuniary and territorial jurisdictions of the
District Forum.

ISSUES WITH DISTRICT FORUMS

Despite its afficient functioning, The district forums do suffers from certain defects. one of the
main underlying problem is its requirement of mendatory fee before the admissibility of
complaint. Further more even a large number of cases have been disposed off by the consumers
courts. However, still, a large number of cases remains to be dispensed. These forums also suffers
due to inadequacy of staff. Infrastructure, mal functioning and lack of qualitative and vibrant
officials are hampering the district consumer courts. There exist a disparity as the companies
involved in the cases can easily pay the required amount where as the ordinary consumer cannot
and hence he or she may not prefer to go to the consumer courts. Also, involvement of lawyers
stretch the time duration under which a case should be disposed, not only this but due to their
presence the judges have started insisting upon formal procedures. Due to lawyers involvement
the cases becomes more technical in nature thus making it difficult for an ordinary consumer to
understand.

STATE DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION

State Commission exists as the intermediary agency to redress the grievances of the consumers
within a state. It consists of a President who should be a person qualified to be a judge of the High
Court, and two other members having experiences in economics, law, industry, administration etc.
one of whom would compulsorily be a woman. Presently, the State Commission is presided over
by a retired Judge of the High Court. The jurisdiction of the Commission is basically of three
kinds: original, appellate and supervisory. Under its original jurisdiction, the Commission may
entertain complaints where the value of goods or services and the compensation sought exceeds
Rs. Twenty lakhs but does not exceed Rs. one crore.

Acting as appellate authority, the Commission may admit appeal against the orders of the District
Forum. Interestingly, more sweeping powers appear to have been afforded to the Commission
under its supervisory jurisdiction. Exercising such power, the Commission may call for the
records and pass appropriate orders in any consumer dispute which remains pending before or has
been decided by any District Forum within the state. The use of this power becomes necessary for
the Commission if it finds that such District Forum has acted outside its jurisdiction or has failed
to exercise a jurisdiction so vested, or has acted illegally or with material irregularity. Moreover,
on an application of the complainant or on its own, the Commission can transfer any complaint,
pending at any stage of the proceeding before the District Forum to another District Forum within
the state if it deems so fit in the interest of justice.

The procedure for disposal of complaints by the State Commission is by and large same as is
followed by the District Forum. In case of the dissatisfaction of a person with the orders of the
State Commission, an appeal may be filed to the National Commission within a period of thirty
days of the receipt of order from the State Commission.

ISSUES WITH STATE CONSUMER GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL COMMISSION.

Consumer Protection Act 1986 provided for most vibrant bodies to adjudicate consumer problems
but mere enactment of legislation is not enough. It should be supplemented with adequate
functioning mechanism. State commission have witnessed political interference in the
appointment of its members. It has not been provided with sufficient infrastructure by the states.
Recent reports suggests that state redressal commissions suffers due to lack of trained staff. Many
a times companies tried to manuplate its judgement through unscrupiless use of lawyers.

NATIONAL CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission is the apex body conceptualized by the
CoNSUMER PRoTECTIoN ACT 1986., 1986, to deal with the issues of consumer disputes all
over the country. Situated at New Delhi, the National Commission consists of a President and four
other members one of them is to be a woman. The President of the Commission needs to be a
person qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court while other members, like the members of the
State Commission, should have adequate experiences in the fields of economics, law, industry,
administration, etc.

Further, akin to the State Commission, the National Commission also is vested with three types of
jurisdiction: original, appellate and supervisory. Under its original jurisdiction, the Commission
may entertain complaints where the value of goods or services and the compensation sought
exceeds Rs.one crore. Acting as appellate authority, the Commission may admit appeal against
the orders of any State Commission. Exercising its supervisory power, the Commission may call
for the records and pass appropriate orders in any consumer dispute which remains pending before
or has been decided by any State Commission. The use of this power becomes necessary for the
Commission if it finds that such State Commission has acted outside its jurisdiction or has failed
to exercise a jurisdiction so vested, or has acted illegally or with material irregularity. The
National Commission also retains the right to transfer any complaint pending before the District
Forum of one State to a District Forum of another State or before one State Commission to another
State Commission, on an application made by the complainant or on its own volition, if it finds
that doing so would be in the best interest of the canons of natural justice.

The National Commission, acting as the apex body on the matter of consumer disputes redressal,
by its orders, sets precedent for the lower level agencies to decide any dispute in accordance with
the rule enunciated by the national body. Thus, it also acts as the court of record and the principles
of justice propounded in its orders need to be followed by other authorities subsequently. At the
same time, after the passage of the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 2oo2, the power of
the National Commission has also been extended to review its own orders when there appears to
be an apparent error in the face of the record. However, if any party does not seem to be satisfied
with the judgment of the National Commission, it may file an appeal against such judgment only
in the Supreme Court within a period of thirty days from the time of the receipt of the order from
the National Commission. However, normally only such cases are admitted by the Supreme Court
which involves the substantive questions of law to be decided by the apex court in the country.

Certain issues having significance in the working of the disputes redressal mechanism at various
levels in the country are also discussed in various provisions of the CoNSUMER PRoTECTIoN
ACT1986, 1986. Under Section 24, it has been laid down that where no appeal has been
preferred, the orders of a District Forum, State Commission and that of the National Commission
shall be final. The period of limitation has also been provided for in the Act for filing of complaint
at different bodies. For instance, it has been envisaged that none of the consumer disputes
redressal agencies would admit a complaint unless it is filed within two years from the date on
which the cause of action arose, with the rider that such a delay may be condoned by the
competent agency by recoding the reasons for condoning such delay in writing.

The consumer disputes redressal agencies are also empowered to dismiss a complaint if it finds
the same to be of frivolous or vexatious in nature by recording the reasons for such dismissal.

Moreover, in such cases, the harassment caused to the opposite party may be compensated by
awarding suitable costs to the tune of an amount not exceeding Rs. Ten thousand on the issue of
deciding whether a complainant is a consumer or not, it has been established that the consumer
forums are competent and vested with power to decide such issues. The consumer agencies are
vested with the power to impose penalties on a trader or a person against whom a complaint has
been filed and he fails to comply with the orders of the Forum or the Commissions. Such a penalty
may range from a minimum imprisonment of one month and maximum of three years, to the
minimum fine of Rs. Two thousand and maximum of Rs. Ten Thousand or both. Finally, the
CoNSUMER PRoTECTIoN ACT1986, 1986 does not have the effect of barring remedies under
other laws. Section 3 of the Act provides that the provisions of the Act shall be in addition to, not
in derogation of the provisions of any other law for the time being in force. As a result, a
complainant has the option of seeking redress to his grievances either under the CoNSUMER
PRoTECTIoN ACTor under the provisions of any other law.

This provision was also enunciated in the case of Lucknow Development Authority vs M.K.
Gupta, issues involved in this case were whether the statutory authorities constituted under State
Acts to carry on planned development of the cities in the State are amenable to Consumer
Protection Act, 1986. The court held that activites which are not otherwise commercial, but
professional or service oriented in nature will come within the purview of the definition of
“service”.
Here we see that the court is going a hed with a liberal interpretation of the statute and hence
confirming upon the courts a wide range of power to carry out the functioning for the welfare of
the ordinary consumers. This judgement also spoke about corrupt practices of the government and
the need to protect the consumers from suffering at the hand of the officials. The tone of the
judgement of this case was in favor of the public.
Chapter IV

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

The enactment of the CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT in 1986 has been greeted as the
milestone event in the way of providing a wide-ranging safety to the ordinary consumers. It
pursues to guard a consumer from the greediness of dishonest traders on onehand, and the
obstructive and anticompetitive business practices of the swindlers of the business on otherhand,
The greatest asset of the Action is distinguished on the bases of providing low-cost, expedient
and plane remedies from the whims of the manufacturersand traders.furthermore, straightforward
arrangement of complaint filing and seecking justice without experiencing the anguish of
burdensome process of usual judicial procedure seems to be the innovation acquainted with by
the action as in terms of protection of consumer rights.

However, the working of the bodies for such a period has exposed a number of organizational
and practical gaps discourageing the real part performance by the forums as the source of
protection of consumer rights in the nation . Structurally, though a number of adjudicatory bodies
are supposed to be setup to supliment the is yet to be done, even those bodies that are established
seem to be really cumbersome and without the robustness to act as the guardian of the consumer
interest. The authorities given to these consumer bodies also appears to be not proportional to the
accountability allocated to them. As a consequence, in few cases, these consumer bodies are
unable to release their functions efficiently. despite existing forover more than 25 years, these
bodies are not able to creat awareness among people of their presence and take alternative to
these consumer bodies if their rights are violated.

Therefore, the burdensome job before these bodies in India appears to be making themselves
acknowledged to the ordinary public to the extent possible so that they could think of
approaching them and as and when they feel cheated. The cases of the abuses of rights of
consumers are in large numbers in India, the only requirement is to create awareness and make
them feel free to approach these consumer forums to seek their grievances rectified.
SUGGESTIONS

1) In addition to colleges and schools, programs for awareness of consumers be planned for
ordinary people through N.G.O.s.
2) Proactive efforts should be made to inform rural-consumers by different modes of
communication.
3) traders, consumers and policy-makers be brought under a common stage to exchange data of
shared interest for better coordination and consensus.
4) easy procedures for swift disposal is needed to be instituted. Online mechanismsbe put in
place.
5) Consumer bodies should be strengthened to guard the consumer rights.
6) Government should play a substantial part by providing for satisfactory infrastructure for
agencies, online care, punctual selection of staff and assigning adequate funds for consumer
protection.
7) Commercial organization should be made to plan their inhouse dispute settlement apparatus.
8) Consumers, organizations, groups and associations should represent cases on behalf of
ordinary consumer before these forums and provide guidance to them at every level without
charging high fees so to support poor consumers.
9) The government should come out to encourage these consumer groups by awarding for their
devoted effort for the cause of consumers rights.
1o) The lok-Adalats should be organized frequently and the circuit benches of such forums
should be established at suitable locations.
11) Along with setting up of more branches of these consumer bodies, the emphasis should be on
disposing of cases on informal bases.
12) admissibility of complaints should be without charge.
CONCLUSION:

It requires solemn consideration towards vast pendency of cases before consumer disputes
redressal agencies in India and to make provision of further improvement in the procedure and
functioning.

Proactive involvement of governmental bodies, positive, innovative and encouraging approach of

schools, Universities, TrainingInstitutes, non governmental organisations, both electronic as well
as print media would provide help to improve the contemporary state of concerns.

Citizens attitude and code of conduct for the manufacturars or serviceproviders should be made
an essential part of working of any business unit. It is imparitive to have entire commitment to
the cause for consumers and social responsibility to needs of consumers to shape business-world
a healthier place for trading and comerse.
 BIBLEOGRAPHY

1) Niraj Kumar (Dr.), Consumer Protection Law and Practice (2o12), Himalaya Publishing
House, Mumbai.
2) Annual Survey Report 2o13-14, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of India.
3) At website: http://garj.org/garjmbs/indcx.htm (GARJMBS-ISSN: 2315-5o86), Delhi, 2o13.
As on 7th February, 2o15.
4) Consumer protection act 1986.

5) Evaluation of Efficacy of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies in

India”
Prof. Prakash N. Chaudhary
Vice Principal, Associate Professor& Head, Dept, of Business Laws