National Seminar, BHU

ABSTRACT

They say Consumer is the King. But the question which arises today is he really the King
or the victim in the market?
Consumer protection is a global concept which has been recognized by each and every
developing as well as developed nations around the globe. Meaning whereby, India too, is not
untouched from it. Consumer considerations and their protection is not a new concept for India.
This research paper would throw light upon the historical background and the contemporary
status of the Consumer protection laws prevailing in India. It would seemingly depict the level of
awareness which was prevalent in ancient India and the attempt towards strict obedience of
consumer protection laws in current India, as far as trade practices are concerned. Many attempts
have been made to protect the rights of the consumers but these attempts have been futile and
reasons for the same would be enunciated in this research paper, in quite detail.
This paper concludes to say that though it is the legislators who have come up with various
consumer protection laws but the role of judiciary is also significant, which has pointed out the
real issues causing hindrances in the implementation of these Laws.

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, therefore, though honesty, integrity and trust should form the
pillars of trade and commerce; yet they are seldom found in the trade and business; on the
contrary consumer is often a victim of malpractices of traders like adulteration, under weighing
or overpricing of goods or substandard services, just to mention a few.1
Although economists have been trying various theories to afford maximum satisfaction to the
consumers from the given income, the consumers exploitation has not seen the end. The
increasing international character of trade and industry, well organized and highly professional
producers and sellers on the one hand and the illiterate and unorganized consumer with little time
1 R.K. Nayak : Consumer Protection Law in India Eco-Legal Treaties on Consumer Justice: 1st edn. ,
1991, p.3
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to make choices between various alternative commodities available on the other hand, have also
been reasons of exploitation of consumer in the market.
The reason why competition does not work to the benefit of the consumer perhaps is that too
often the balance of power is weighted in favour of traders, with their paid expert, advisors,
legal, commercial, public relation, with their organized trade and professional associate to
represent their point of view in any and every dialogue with government or trade unions. 2 Thus
competition alone , in absence of supportive mechanism ensuring voice of consumer to be heard
by the government , is not sufficient to safeguard the interests of consumer.
Another problem faced by consumers is imbalance of power and weak bargaining position
because of disparity in knowledge and resources. Consumers have always been unorganized and
relatively inarticulate and least organized. The absence of perfect and fair competition makes the
things worse for the consumer.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Role of international organizations:
The exploitation of consumers cannot be avoided without the development of international
consumer protection movement. Various international organizations like the International Labour
Organization (ILO), promotes the interest of the workers (as consumers) by providing them basic
necessities of life, reasonable in terms of price, quantity and quality; Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) is not only pursuing the consumer objectives 3; The World Health
Organization (WHO), UNESCO, UNCTAD, UNICEF also have made sufficient contribution in
protection of the rights of the consumers in the international sphere.
In 1980, the UN Secretary General emphasized that international cooperation with regard to
consumer protection is needed because the development of the consumer protection policies no
longer require that measures be taken only at the national level. 4 This is so because world
economy has become inter-dependent and due to international character of business practices the
2 Weidenfeld and Nicholson : Consumer Council-Final Annual Report, London (1971) p.4
3 A Treatise on Consumer Protection Laws, Indian Law Institute, New Delhi, 2004.
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marketing of goods and services are is so often done on multinational basis by transnational
corporations. So the problems encountered by consumer are often not exclusive to any one
country. As a result measures adopted to protect the consumers in one country can have
implications for consumers in another country as well.
Consumer Protection in ancient India:
In ancient India, all sections of society followed Dharma-sastras 5 (Dharma), which laid out
social rules and norms, and served as the guiding principle governing human relations. The
principles of Dharma were derived from Vedas 6.Vedas were considered the words of God, and
law was said to have divine origin which was transmitted to society through sages 7. Thus, Vedas
were the primary sources of law in India.8
Manu, the ancient law giver, also wrote about ethical trade practices. 9 He prescribed a code of
conduct to traders and specified punishments to those who committed certain crimes against
buyers. For example, he referred to the problem of adulteration and said one commodity mixed
with another must not be sold (as pure), nor a bad one (as good) not less (than the property
quantity or weight) nor anything that is at hand or that is concealed. 10 The punishment for
adulterating unadulterated commodities and for breaking gems or for improperly boring (them)
4 Report of Secretary General , International Activities for Consumer Protection, in IOCU proceedings
of the International Seminar on Law and the consumer, Hong Kong ,January 6-10, 1980.
5 Codes of morals. (They also deal with the rules of conduct, law and customs)
6 Shraddhakar Supakar, Law of Procedure and Justice in India, p.38 (1986).
7 Id. at 39.
8 Id at 41.
9 It is interesting to note that Manu was the first to write about the eighteen heads or titles of litigation
and matters pertaining to In this age of consumers, the regime of Indian consumer law will undoubtedly
rule Indian markets and bestow a new phase on the existing Indian legal structure with its strong ancient
legal foundations.136 Journal of Texas Consumer Law buyers and consumers, including money lending,
deposits and pledges, sale without ownership of property, non-performance of contracts and breach of
contract of sale etc.
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was the least harsh.11 Severe punishment was prescribed for fraud in selling seed corn: he who
sells (for seed-corn that which is) not seed-corn, he who takes up seed (already sown) and he
who destroys a boundary (mark) shall be punished by mutilation. 12 Interestingly, Manu also
specified the rules of competency for parties to enter into a contract. He said a contract made by
a person intoxicated or insane or grievously disordered (by disease and so forth) or wholly
dependent, by an infant or very aged man, or by an unauthorized (party) is invalid.13
Today, the civil justice system is tainted with deficiencies that discourage the consumer from
seeking legal recourse. However, the Consumer Protection Act of 1986, which provides easy
access to justice, has brought a legal revolution to India as a result of its cost effective
mechanism and popular support.

At the same time, these mechanisms pose a great legal

challenge to the traditional courts which conduct litigation in orthodox ways. In this age of
consumers, the regime of Indian consumer law will undoubtedly rule Indian markets and bestow
a new phase on the existing Indian legal structure with its strong ancient legal foundations.14
CONSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Soon after India got independent it had laid down the formative structure of its governance and
organization on the touchstone of socialism. The socialist approach was inherent in the
functioning of the government as it preached social and economic equality, which was later
adopted in the Preamble to the Constitution of India by the 42nd Amendment. In this process, the
concept of planned economic development started since the early 1950s.

10 Manu, The Laws of Manu, p.290 (George Buhler trans., 1990).

11 Id. at 393.
12 Id. at 394.
13 Id. at 283.
14 Dr. A. Rajendra Prasad, Historical Evolution of Consumer Protection and Law in India: A Birds Eye
View.
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However, this approach did not yield the desired result of socio or economic equality. The initial
industrial licensing policies had not borne the planned results- instead, the market and the
industries were showing negative trends and wealth was getting concentrated in the hands of the
few. This was observed by the Hazari Committee in its 1967 Report on Industrial Planning and
Licensing Procedure, where it found that working of the licensing system had resulted in
disproportionate growth of some big industrial house.
Similarly, the Mahalanobis Committee Report (1964) on Distribution and Level of Income,
reported that the top 10% of the population cornered 40% of the income while the 20 of the
largest firms in India owned 38% of the total built up capital of the private sector.15
The Constitution of India does not contains any explicit provision on the subject of the consumers,
but there are many provisions that have direct bearing on the consumer interests, most of these
though pertain to the Directive Principles of State Policy. As a part of fundamental freedoms, the
constitutional guarantees under sub-clause (g) of article19 (1) freedom of profession, trade or
business , thereby ensuring that the state cannot prevent a citizen from carrying on a business, except
by a law imposing a reasonable restriction in the interest of the general public. However, under
article19 (2), no such right can be enforced where the business is dangerous or immoral. Such a
business may be absolutely prohibited or may be required to be licensed. Moreover, restrictions can
be imposed on business in terms of place and time also. There is no right to carry on a business at
every place or at any time. There can be reasonable restrictions on business on the streets16 and any
harmful trade17 or dangerous trade18.
Article 21 of the Constitution, guarantees every person life with dignity, free from all kinds of
exploitation. Article 38 mandates the state to bring about a social order in which justice- social
economic and political shall inform all the institutions of life. The consumer cannot be ignored
15 Mahalanobis Committee Report, on distribution and levels of income (Government of India New
Delhi, 1964.)
16 Pyare Lal vs. Delhi Muncipality AIR 1968 SC 133, 138
17 Hari Shankarv. Deputy Comissioner,AIR 1975 SC 1121
18 Lakhan Lal v. State of Orissa, AIR 1977 SC 722
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while giving any practical shape to this mandate. The Supreme Court has held that a statutory
corporation, even if it may not be a public utility, has also to comply with article 39 of the
constitution and charge only fair prices 19. For the commodity, not vital for the consumers, greater
consideration can be given to profit.20
Article 43 obligates the state to secure, by suitable legislation or economic organization or in any
other way, for all workers, agricultural, industrial or otherwise, work, a living usage, conditions
of work ensuring a decent standard of life in the same way as the ILO is promoting the interests
of workers as consumers.
CONSUMER AND CONSUMER LEGISLATIONS
Who is a consumer?
The moment a person comes into this would, he starts consuming. He needs clothes, milk, oil,
soap, water, and many more things and these needs keep taking one form or the other all along
his life. Thus we all are consumers in the literal sense of the term. When we approach the market
as a consumer, we expect value for money, i.e., right quality, right quantity, right prices,
information about the mode of use, etc. But there may be instances where a consumer is harassed
or cheated.21
The Government understood the need to protect consumers from unscrupulous suppliers, and
several laws have been made for this purpose. We have the Indian Contract Act, the Sale of
Goods Act, the Dangerous Drugs Act, the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act, the
Indian Standards Institution (Certification Marks) Act, the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act,
the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, etc. which to some extent protect consumer
interests. However, these laws require the consumer to initiate action by way of a civil suit
involving lengthy legal process which is very expensive and time consuming.
19 The Oil and Natural Gas Comission and Another v. Association of Natural Gas Consuming Industries
of Gujrat and Others, AIR 1990 SC 1851
20 Ibid.
21 Commentary on Consumer Protection Act. See at: http://ncdrc.nic.in/1_1_2.html
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The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was enacted to provide a simpler and quicker access to
redressal of consumer grievances. The Act for the first time introduced the concept of consumer
and conferred express additional rights on him. It is interesting to note that the Act doesnt seek
to protect every consumer within the literal meaning of the term. The protection is meant for the
person who fits in the definition of consumer given by the Act.
Section 2(d)22says that consumer means any person who
(i) buys any goods for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and
partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment, and includes any user of such
goods other than the person who buys such goods for consideration paid or promised or
partly paid or partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment when such use is
made with the approval of such person, but does not include a person who obtains such
goods for resale or for any commercial purpose; or
(ii) hires or avails of any services for a consideration which has been paid or promised or
partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment, and includes any
beneficiary of such services other than the person who hires or avails of the services for
consideration paid or promised, or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of
deferred payment, when such services are availed of with the approval of the first
mentioned person.

CONSUMER LEGISLATIONS
In India, the consumer protection laws comprise a wide spectrum of legislations with specific
dimensions and parameters, from the constitution to the general and specific consumer centric
laws. The enactments , in addition to the constitutional provisions stated above, dealing with
consumer protection include; the prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, The Bureau of
Indian Standard Act, 1986, Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, Indian Telegraph Act, 1858, the
MRTP Act, 1969, The Competition Act , 2002, The Consumer Protection Act, 1986. It is the last
three acts on which this paper is going to be focusing upon in quite detail, taking into
consideration the reasons and objective behind these legislations and the problems with their
implementations.
22 The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
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Consumers have been recognized as an important component of the economy, and protecting
them from exploitation and ensuring their rights has become a vital feature of government
legislations and policies. Apart from the legislation enacted for consumer protection, a number of
other laws provide for the protection of consumer interests.
Few of the Consumer Legislations which would be dealt with in this paper includes:

MONOPOLIES AND RESTRICTIVE TRADE PRACTICE ACT, 1969.

India, in its formative years of freedom, laid down the seeds of socialistic
approach towards economic development. Five-year plans were designed
with the aim of self-reliance and self-sufficiency of the Indian industry and in
this process of indignity, focus was laid on strong governmental regime to
ensure equal and prosperous distribution of resources. One such attempt of
the state resulted in the enactment of the MRTP Act, 1969 with the basic aim
of comprehensive control over direction, pattern and quantum of investment
to ensure that wealth is not concentrated in the hands of the few.
Reasons and objective:
In the years preceding the enactment of the MRTP Act, 1969, India had only
been a free nation for a little more than 15 years. Following independence, it
had laid down the formative structure of its governance and organization on
the touchstone of socialism. The socialist approach was inherent in the
functioning of the government as it preached social and economic equality,
which was later adopted in the Preamble to the Constitution of India by the
42nd Amendment. In this process, the concept of planned economic
development started since the early 1950s.
However, this approach did not yield the desired result of socio or economic
equality. Also, the previous industrial policies had clearly not worked in the
direction the state had hoped for since, post independence many new and

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big firms had entered the Indian market and they had little competition and
thus, were trying to monopolize the market.
Hence the need for a stricter policy regime was realized to safeguard the
welfare of the consumers by removing barriers to competition in the Indian
economy, and this resulted in the enactment of the MRTP Act, 1969 which
came into force in June 1970. The primary objectives of the Act were listed
down in the Preamble as follows:
i) Regulate the concentration of economic power to the common detriment,
ii) Control monopolies and monopolistic trade practices,
iii) Prohibit restrictive trade practices, and
iv) Regulate unfair trade practices.
The doctrine behind the MRTP Act, 1969 was based on the concept of
planned economic development that had started since early 1950s. The
Public

Sector

Industrial

(Development

&

Regulation)

Act,

1951

and

Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 together commanded a

comprehensive control over direction, pattern and quantum of investment.
However, with the emergence of the new Industrial Policy statement of 1980,
a need was felt for promoting competition in domestic market, technological
upgradation and modernization which was then followed by the massive New
Policy Reforms of 1991 which emphasized attainment of technological
dynamism and international competitiveness, by opening up the Indian
economy to foreign investment. This could not be met by the Indian industry
since it was not in competitive terms with the rest of the world and operated
in an over-regulated environment. Hence, as was concluded in the Raghavan

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Committee Report23changes were sought in the competition policies of India
and thus, the MRTP Act was laid to rest.

PROBLEMS WITH THE ACT; why it was made to see the door !
Anti-Welfaristic Results- Though the MRTP was enforced with the aim of
distribution of resources and leveraging of competition in the market, the
desired results could not be obtained. Rather, the market conditions turned
out to be hostile for the consumer, and small-businesses and big-businesses
alike, were subjected to excessive control. The heightened governmental
control, where new undertakings and ventures were severely restrained by
complex procedures, created conditions wherein the firms, existing and new,
found it difficult to survive and thus, could not give back any benefits to the
consumer.
Stringent Provisions- The Act aimed at abolishing all acts which were anticompetition. The provisions, though aimed at benefitting the consumers and
the industrial growth, often played out tough- and the stringent provisions
did not benefit anyone.
For instance, the concept of Predatory Pricing, which is still a marketing
policy adopted by companies to have an edge over their competitors, was
handed down heavily by the MRTP Commission. Predatory Pricing is defined
as pricing a good or service below the cost of production of the good or
service, with the objective of driving a competitor out of trade or to discipline
him and thereby achieve elimination of competition. This is a means for a
firm with strong market power to eliminate other competitors and then,
dominate the market.

23 Raghavan Commitee Report, 2000.

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This is effectively an anti-competitive mechanism, however, it can also be
used to drive competition i.e. it can be effectively used to establish a strong
competitive market. Examples are ripe in the current market where there are
strong competitive conditions for the firms- they have to dole out quality at
the best price to keep themselves established in the market, otherwise other
competitive firms will drive them out of business.
Ambiguity in Law- The MRTP Act, 1969 contained only one particular section,
Section 2(o) to cover all anti-competition practices- defining Restrictive
Trade Practice as a trade practice which prevents, distorts or restricts
competition and thus, by defining it in such broad terms that it was then
believed that there is no need for a new specific law or provision to govern
such practices. Furthermore, some of the anti-competition practices like
cartels, bid rigging and other practices are not specifically mentioned in the
MRTP Act but the MRTP Commission, over the years, had attempted to fit
such offences under one or more of its sections by way of interpretation of
the language used therein.
International Norms- Post 1991 and the WTO Regime, the MRTP was
exposed to lack the resources to handle the incoming international
investments or to meet the trade requirements of the WTO. The Act was
amended in many ways to accommodate for the New Policy Reforms of 1991
however such amendments could not bring it at par with the other anticompetition regimes in the World.
Hence, the MRTP Act, 1969 was lacking and deficient in certain ways and
thus, need for a new, comprehensive law was recognized which gave birth to
the Competition Act, 2002 .
Problem with its implementation/ its Failure:

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The changes brought about in the 1991 Reforms opened up the market in
more ways than one. And hence, one can safely conclude that keeping with
Indias liberalization, MRTP had become undesirable, rather, an obstacle to
the growth story and thus, had to undergo multiple amendments in the
period following the 1991 Reforms. However, the prime reasons for its failure
could be identified as under:
Lack of explicit definitions of abuse of dominance, cartels, bid-rigging, and predatory pricing
etc. in the act.
It was an ambiguous and subjective act with regards to criteria for accessing whether a practice
has an appreciable adverce effect on competition. It had no express and clear definitions defining
a restrictive trade practice or a monopolistic trade practice.
COMPETITION ACT, 2002
Reasons and objective:
Competition Act 2002 has come into force to replace the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade
Practices (MRTP) Act, 1969. After the economic reforms of 1990, it was felt that MRTP has
become obsolete pertaining to international economic developments relating to competition law
and there was a need of law which curbs monopolies and promotes competition. In 1990s India
saw substantial increases in the value and volume of international trade in goods and services, in
foreign direct investments (FDI), and in cross border mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Over the
period of time, trade barriers fell and restrictions on FDI were reduced. The Competition Act,
2002 has been enacted with the purpose of providing a competition law regime that meets and
suits the demands of the changed economic scenario in India and abroad.
The Competition Act has repealed the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 and
has dissolved the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission. The cases pending
before the MRTP Commission are transferred to Competition Commission of India CCI,
barring those which are related to unfair trade practices and the same are proposed to be
transferred to the National Commission constituted under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
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Problems in its implementation:
There are innumerable instances of ostensibly overlapping jurisdictions on questions of
competition. Legislators have not been very careful in allocating specific areas of work for
economic regulators. Their muddled understanding of competition policy is evident in both their
recent and past work. This awkward body of legislation also reflects a lack of comprehension of
regulatory jurisprudence.24
There is possibility for conflict between jurisdictions of the CCI and other sectoral regulators For
example, under the Electricity Act, 2003, the power is with the Central Electricity Regulatory
Commission to issue directions to a licensee or generating company if it enters into any
agreement or abuse of their dominant position or enter into a combination, this is likely to cause
an adverse effect on competition in electricity industry. Now this poses a question as to who
would exercise jurisdiction and opens up the doors for forum shopping. This is definitely a
challenge, and one which requires answers at a policy level.
The present situation, therefore, demands harmonization. The Raghavan Committee
recommended that the coordination and cooperation between the CCI and sectoral regulators
should be maximized. An option is to make the Commission responsible for both sector specific
regulation as well as overarching competition enforcement. This approach is advantageous, as it
reduces the multiplicity of regulators and accumulates sectoral expertise. Indeed, Australia has
used this approach to create an economy-wide economic regulator that integrates technical and
competition regulation.
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that consumer protection has become an
important aspect of various legislations, and same is the case with competition law. The
legislators are realizing the vulnerability of consumers, and are trying to incorporate the relevant
provisions in the legislations of the sectors which are more likely to affect the consumers.
Moreover, if we look at the current text of Section 41 of the Act, it already empowers CCIs
investigation arm- the Directorate General to carry out search and seizure. However, DG has
been reluctant to use its power and this provision has largely remained unutilized.
24 Shubhangi Goel, PROTECTING CONSUMER INTERESTS UNDER COMPETITION LAW, 2012.
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Section 27 of the act runs against the provision of rule of fair hearing, as it does not provide any
opportunity to the parties to be present in front of the authority while its quantum of penalty is
being decided.
CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986
Reasons and objective:
The CoPRA (Consumer Protection Act), enacted in 1986, is one of the generous social
legislations intended to protect consumers from exploitation. The act seeks to provide for better
protection of interests of consumers and for the purpose, makes provisions for the establishment
of consumer councils and other agencies for the settlement of consumer disputes. The main aim
of the act is also to ensure the rights of consumers and protect them from exploitation by
traders/dealers and service providers. The act has become a vehicle for enabling people to secure
speedy and inexpensive redress of their grievances.
One of those forward looking legislations which enabled India to pursue a gradual path of
liberalization with safety nets, CoPRA, enacted in 1986, attained its silver jubilee in 2011.
The Salient Features of the Act are as under:
The Act provides for establishing a three-tier consumer dispute redressal machinery at the
national, state and district levels.
It applies to all goods and services.
It covers all sectors, whether private, public or any person.
The Act provides for relief of a specific nature and also for compensation to the consumer as
appropriate.
The Act also provides for setting up of Consumer Protection Councils at the Central, State and
District levels, which are advisory bodies to promote and protect the rights of the consumers.
The provisions of the Act are in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions of any
other law for the time being in force.
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Looking at the above features of the law, one can certainly say that this is an ideal piece of
consumer protection legislation. However, the law is, after all, not an ornamental piece to
beautify the statute of the country but supposed to be an instrument to do justice to the
community. The efficacy of any law has to be tested on the basis of the success it has achieved in
attaining the objective behind such law. The avowed objective of the Indian Consumer Protection
Act 1986 is to provide for BETTER PROTECTION OF THE INTERESTS OF
CONSUMERS. The passage of almost 16 years after introduction of the CPA is a period long
enough to judge its efficacy.
After the Parliament passed this Act, the Central Government and various state Governments did
not take any action to set up Consumer Protection Councils and the 3-tier Redressal machinery
(Consumer Courts). It is only after Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by consumer groups like
Common Cause from Delhi and CERC from Ahmedabad in the Supreme Court, the Central and
State Governments were forced to set up District Fora, State Commissions and the National
Commission. Thus it was not before 1989 almost three years after the passage of the Act that
each District in India had a District Forum in its place. The Supreme Court gave important
directions to the Central and all state Governments in this PIL and emphasised that it is the
responsibility of the Governments to ensure that the Consumer Fora and the Commission are not
only set up but that they function effectively and efficaciously.
Though the act in India is currently in its 27th year of functioning, only 20% of consumers in
India have heard about it, and 42% are aware about their rights 25. However, a major cause for
worry revealed by the survey is the fact that people are slowly losing trust in consumer redress
mechanisms. Fifty three per cent respondents of the survey did not know about the available
external redress mechanisms. Out of the 47% of consumers who knew about the external redress
mechanisms, only 28% believed that they were easily accessible to common people. Only 33%
of the cases before all the three tiers of the redress mechanisms were resolved within the
stipulated time frame.26
25 State of the Indian Consumer 2012, published by CUTS
26 Indian Consumers in the New Age: a forward looking agenda to address the concerns of the common
people published by CUTS
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The study concluded that not only did consumers in India need to be more aware of their rights,
but that the consumer movement should also reach the rural masses. In addition, the three-tier,
quasi-judicial machinery at the national, state and district levels should provide, as stipulated,
simple, speedy and inexpensive redress for consumer disputes. The redress system is the
backbone of the Indian Consumer Protection Act, and the entire consumer protection mechanism
needs to be made workable for both urban and rural consumers.
Problems with its implementation:
According to a study undertaken by IIPA27 in 5 States[Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Tripura and
Uttar Pradesh], the areas on which the Third Amendment has made remarkable impact are nature
of complaint, number of hearings, number of adjournments and time taken in disposal of cases.
However Third Amendment has not yet made any impact on the appearance of advocates.
Analysis of data revealed that 85 per cent consumers preferred to engage advocates for their
complaints, though the intention of the CPA is that the complainants could argue their case
themselves in the consumer courts.
It was also noted that in rural areas in all five states appearance by advocates is more prevalent.
Reasons for this may be illiteracy, lack of awareness about the consumer rights and ignorance of
courts procedure.
It seems that no complaint is being filed in relation to unfair trade practices, restrictive trade
practices, hazardous goods/services, misleading advertisements. As a result the reliefs provided
and introduced by the Third Amendment in relation to the above are not utilized. In these areas
the role of governments and NGOs / VCOs is of prime importance particularly in absence of suo
moto power to the Commissions / Forums.
The thrust given to consumer awareness in the XIth Five Year Plan and the sustained multimedia
publicity campaign has resulted in a significant improvement in the level of consumer awareness
in the country. It was revealed that only about 34% respondents were aware of consumer rights

27 Study on Impact and Effectiveness of Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

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and a high percentage of 82% remained ignorant of C.P. Act. an effective national consumer
helpline no, and online database.28
It is generally observed that adjournments seems to be an universal factor, which is not in line
with the basic purpose of CPA to provide quick redressal for consumer grievance. It was also
observed that almost all complainants were unaware about the provision for cost on
adjournments, which is recently introduced by the regulation issued by the National
Commission. So proper implementation of this provision may result into overcoming the
problem of adjournment.
Lack of proper machinery to implement the orders of consumer courts -though, the Act contains
the provision for attachment of property of the defaulters but the forums are not having sufficient
manpower or supportive machinery to exercise this provision properly.
Members should come from higher educational background preferably from legal background.
One permanent member from the medical field who can assist the president in the matters related
to medical negligence.

SUGGESTIONS with respect to improving the condition of consumer protection

legislations in India:
The Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry has recognized the importance of
consumer protection, while examining the demands for grants. The Committee made strong
recommendations to the Planning Commission for substantial allocation of funds to the
consumer protection programmes especially for undertaking the gigantic task of spreading

28 Survey by ORG Centre for Social Research by the CAG.

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consumer awareness and strengthen the infrastructure of the Consumer Fora in the country
including their computerization and computer networking29.
Strategic Plan for 2012-15
As per the Strategic Plan of the Department it is their vision to protect the rights and interests of
consumers, to spread awareness about consumer rights, duties and responsibilities and to
promote consumer welfare by strengthening consumer movement in the country. Their mission is
implementation of various consumer welfare schemes through progressive consumer related
legislations and effective. Active participation of State Governments, academic and research
institutions, schools and voluntary organizations will be sought to create a vibrant consumer
movement in the country. Strict parameters regarding consumer products will be developed and
enforced along with regular monitoring of prices to ensure the sovereignty of consumers.
12th Plan strategy and implementation plan30:

Consumers need an inexpensive and quick grievance redressal mechanism to ensure that
manufacturers and service providers are accountable for the price and quality that the
consumers are entitled to. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide several methods of
grievance redressal including those which are available in accordance with the provisions
of the Consumer Protection Act. Thus, mediation or in-house grievance redressal should

be tried, but without giving up the right of the consumer to obtain legal redress ;
Amendment of Consumer Protection Act to make it more effective and tuned to reducing

the backlog of cases.

Of recent there has been derogation or poaching on the jurisdiction of Consumer
Protection Act in some of the areas due to the orders passed by the Courts. Such
loopholes in the Act should be plugged through appropriate amendments to the Act and
Rules.

29 REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON CONSUMER PROTECTION, Twelfth Plan (2012-17) ,Volume
II.

30 See at: http://planningcommission.gov.in/aboutus/committee/wrkgrp12/pp/wg_cp2.pdf accessed on

13/03/2014.
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Setting up counselling and a mediation mechanism at pre-litigation stage and so as to

reduce the burden of consumer courts and resolve disputes through out of court

settlements.
Moving from manual system to computer based system to bring in more efficiency and
transparency.

Supplement the existing redressal system with Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR)
Mechanism:
The greatest challenge that the justice delivery system faces today is the delay in the disposal of
case. Alternative dispute resolution was thought of as a quick fix to meet this challenge. The
Alternate Dispute Resolution can be done by Mediation. Through Mediation, the consumer and
the opposite party try to resolve the dispute with the help of a neutral third party called a
Mediator. In the course of informal meetings, the mediator tries to resolve the differences
between two parties. The primary object of ADR movement is avoidance of vexation, expense
and delay and promotion of the ideal of access of justice for all. ADR can be broadly classified
into two categories; court-annexed options (it includes mediation, conciliation) and community
based dispute resolution mechanism (Lok-Adalat).
New Concept:
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) must be brought into centrality to strengthen the
protection of consumer rights in India. As many of them knowingly violate, blinded by profit
motive, laws and procedures should be evolved to keep these violators in check. All marketers of
products and services must have their own Consumer Care and Disputes Redressal system to
attend consumer rights violations. Massive dose of education is required to make the business
responsible to protect consumer rights as a duty not as burden

What else should be done:

training workshops for universities/colleges

lack of consumer awareness- Awareness of Consumer Protection Act, 1986

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After the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, the first independent
evaluation of the implementation of this Act was through a study by the IIPA in 1994,
where it was found that a large majority of consumers belonging to various categories
and income groups were still ignorant of the existence of the CPA and the redressal
agencies created under it. The majority of respondents both in urban and rural areas
indicated that they had not taken advantage of the Act mainly, because of lack of

awareness of their rights and remedies available to them under the CPA.
The Competition Commission should be made more accountable through independent
review by consumer organizations, external agencies and peer review by competition
authorities from other

countries. To ensure effective function of the competition

authority, it is imperative to resource it properly. This includes recruitment of skilled

staff.
Additionally, the consumer movement in the country need to be adequetly resourced and
strengthened to enable the competition and regulatory agencies to perform their tasks and
their advocacy roles.

CONCLUSION :
The prospect of the consumer justice system in our country appears to be bright in view of the
proactive policy, schemes / programmes adopted by the Government. However, the present drive
and direction need to be supplemented by adopting different channels of redressal. And there is a
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dire need for the State Governments to give deserving priority to Consumer welfare and gear up
themselves to meet the challenges thrown up my market economy. Involvement of trade and
industry, civil society organizations and above all consumer themselves are vital for betterment
consumer welfare in the years to come.
Consumers in India need to be more aware of their rights and should take this consumer
movement to the rural India. Most of the recent studies highlight the fact that consumers in India
are very much ignorant of their rights. For instance, the report of the study on COPRA
commissioned by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India 31 brought out that 66
percent of consumers were not aware of consumer rights and 82 percent were not even aware of
the COPRA. In rural areas, only 13 percent of the population have heard of the COPRA.32
What can also be done? ; It may therefore be a good idea to introduce consumer protection/rights
as a subject of specialization in journalism schools. Similarly, an award for journalists who do
exceedingly well on consumers affairs related journalism might also encourage some of them to
take up the subject.

31 Study conducted in July-August 2005

32 State of Indian the Consumer 2012, CUTS p.16.
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