Consumer Protection Act

What is the act about?

It is an Act to provide for better protection of the interests of consumers and for that purpose to make provision for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumers' disputes and for matters connected therewith. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (in short, the Act), is a benevolent social legislation that lays down the rights of the consumers and provides their for promotion and protection of the rights of the consumers. The first and the only Act of its kind in India, it has enabled ordinary consumers to secure less expensive and often speedy redressal of their grievances. By spelling out the rights and remedies of the consumers in a market so far dominated by organized manufacturers and traders of goods and providers of various types of services, the Act makes the dictum, caveat emptor (buyer beware) a thing of the past. The Act mandates establishment of Consumer Protection Councils at the Centre as well as in each State and District, with a view to promoting consumer awareness. The Central Council is headed by Minster, In-charge of the Department of Consumer Affairs in the Central Government and the State Councils by the Minister In-charge of the Consumer Affairs in the State Governments. It also provides for a 3-tier structure of the National and State Commissions and District Forums for speedy resolution of consumer disputes. To provide inexpensive, speedy and summary redressal of consumer disputes, quasi-judicial bodies have been set up in each District and State and at the national level, called the District Forums, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission respectively. At present, there are 604 District Forums and 34 State Commissions with the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) at the apex. NCDRC has its office at Janpath Bhawan, A Wing, 5 th Floor, Janpath, New Delhi. Each District Forum is headed by a person who is or has been or is eligible to be appointed as a District Judge and each State Commission is headed by a person who is or has been a Judge of High Court. The National Commission was constituted in the year 1988. It is headed by a sitting or retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India. The National Commission is presently headed by Honble Mr. Justice Ashok Bhan, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India as President and has nine Members, viz. Honble Mr. Anupam Dasgupta, Honble Mr. S. K. Naik, Honble Mr. Justice R.C. Jain, Honble Mr. Justice R.K. Batta, Hon'ble Mrs. Vineeta Rai, Hon'ble Mr. Vinay Kumar, Hon'ble Mr. Suresh Chandra, Hon'ble Mr. Justice V.R Kingaonkar & Hon'ble Mr. Justice V.B Gupta,.

The provisions of this Act cover goods as well as services. The goods are those which are manufactured or produced and sold to consumers through wholesalers and retailers. The services are in the nature of transport, telephone, electricity, housing, banking, insurance, medical treatment, etc. A written complaint, can be filed before the District Consumer Forum for pecuniary value of upto Rupees twenty lakh, State Commission for value upto Rupees one crore and the National Commission for value above Rupees one crore, in respect of defects in goods and or deficiency in service. The service can be of any description and the illustrations given above are only indicative. However, no complaint can be filed for alleged deficiency in any service that is rendered free of charge or under a contract of personal service. The remedy under the Consumer Protection Act is an alternative in addition to that already available to the aggrieved persons/consumers by way of civil suit. In the complaint/appeal/petition submitted under the Act, a consumer is not required to pay any court fees but only a nominal fee. Consumer Fora proceedings are summary in nature. The endeavor is made to grant relief to the aggrieved consumer as quickly as in the quickest possible, keeping in mind the provisions of the Act which lay down time schedule for disposal of cases. If a consumer is not satisfied by the decision of a District Forum, he can appeal to the State Commission. Against the order of the State Commission a consumer can come to the National Commission. In order to help achieve the objects of the Consumer Protection Act, the National Commission has also been conferred with the powers of administrative control over all the State Commissions by calling for periodical returns regarding the institution, disposal and pendency of cases. The National Commission is empowered to issue instructions regarding (1) adoption of uniform procedure in the hearing of the matters, (2) prior service of copies of documents produced by one party to the opposite parties, (3) speedy grant of copies of documents, and (4) generally over-seeing the functioning of the State Commissions and the District Forums to ensure that the objects and purposes of the Act are best served, without interfering with their quasi-judicial freedom. The Registry of the National Commission is on the 7th Floor, B Wing, Janpath Bhawan, Janpath, New Delhi which remains open on all working days. For any enquiry with the Registry of the National Commission, one can contact on Telephone Nos. 011-23712109, 23712459, 23389248 and Fax No. 23712456. The filing timings are from 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Every matter filed with the Registry is listed on the 7 th day of its filing for admission before the National Commission. Functioning of District Forum, State Commission and National Commission is consumer friendly, and thus a consumer can file a complaint and also address arguments in person. In genuine cases where the complainant / appellant / petitioner before the National Commission is unable to engage the services of an advocate legal aid is provided by the Commission free of charge.

The Act enshrines all the consumers' rights which are internationally accepted. As per the Act, the consumer protection councils have been established at Central, State and District levels to promote and protect the consumer rights. They are:

Right to Safety: To be protected against the sale of goods and services which are spurious/hazardous for the life. Right to Information: To know the quality, quantity, weight and the price of goods/services being paid for, so that one is not cheated by unfair trade practices. Right to Choose: To be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices. Right to be Heard: To be heard and to be assured that the interest would receive due consideration at appropriate fora. Right to Seek Redressal: To seek legal redressal against unfair or restrictive trade practices or exploitation. Right to Consumer Education: To have access to consumer education.

At present there are 35 State Commissions, one in each State/UT and 571 district forum besides the National Commission. The state governments are responsible to set up the district forum and the State Commissions. States have been empowered to establish additional District Forum and also additional members in the State Commission to facilitate constituting benches and also for holding circuit benches. The Central Government is required to set up the National Commission. It has been empowered to appoint additional members to facilitate creation of more benches and holding of circuit benches. The second bench of the National Commission started functioning from 24 September 2003. The government is monitoring the disposal of cases by the consumer courts through National Commission. Since its inception and up to March 2004, 32,910 cases were filed out of which 24,974 cases disposed of in the National Commission. Similarly 3,01,485 cases were filed and 1,97,797 cases disposed of in the State Commissions and 18,86,236 cases were filed and 16,46,698 cases disposed of in the district forum. Overall 18,69,469 cases have been disposed of out of 22,20,631 cases filed with a remarkable disposal rate of 84.2 per cent. The government has declared 24 December as 'National Consumer Day', since the President gave his assent on that day to the enactment of the historic Consumer Protection Act, 1986. Besides this, 15 March is observed as 'World Consumer Rights Day' every year.