CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT 1986

y OBJECT: Protection of the interest of customers y CAME INTO FORCE ON: 15.4.1987

CONSUMER
GOODS
y One Who buys or agrees to

SERVICE
y One who hires or avails any

buy any goods for a consideration which has been paid, or promised or under any system of deferred payment. y Includes any user of such goods other than the person who actually buys goods and such use is made with the approval of the purchaser.

service for a consideration, which has been paid or promised or partly paid or partly promised or under any system of deferred payment. y Includes any beneficiary of such services, other than the person who hires or avails of the service for consideration when such services availed of with the approval of the first mentioned person.

 Does not include a customer of goods who avails such

services for commercial purpose.

 Includes a customer of goods who buys and uses

exclusively for the purpose of earning his livelihood, by means of self employment.

COMPLAINT
y Complainant:

Consumer Sender/addressee of a letter; Remitter/payee of a money order, Depositor/nominee of SB a/c etc., legal representative of a deceased consumer. y Any recognized consumer association. y One or more consumers having same interest. y Central or State Government

CONTENTS
y 1. Name, description & address of complainant. y 2. Name, description & address of Opposite party/parties. y 3. Facts of the complaint, time at which & place where the transaction took place. y 4. Documents, if any in support of the complaint. y 5. The relief sought for. y 6. Signature of the complainant/his authorized agent.

Fees:
y y y y y y y y

Upto Rs 1,00,000 - Rs 100. Above Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 2,00,000 - Rs 200. Above Rs 2,00,000 to Rs 5,00,000 - Rs 300. Above Rs 5,00,000 to Rs 10,00,000 - Rs 400. Above Rs 10,00,000 to Rs 20,00,000 - Rs 500. Above Rs 20,00,000 to Rs 50,00,000 - Rs 2000. Above Rs 50,00,000 to Rs 1,00,00,000 - Rs 4000. May be in the form of postal orders or demand drafts.

Period of limitation:
y Within 2 years from the date on which cause of action

arose. y May be entertained after the period of 2 years if the complainant had sufficient cause for not filing within such period. y In such a case the forum/commission has to record its reason for condoning the delay.

CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL AGENCIES

y - Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum District Forum y - Value of goods/services upto Rs 5 lakh. y - Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission State

Commission. y -Value of goods/services exceedint Rs 5 lakhs but does not exceed Rs 20 lakhs. y - National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission National Commission. y - Value of goods/services exceeding Rs 20 lakhs.

REPLY STATEMENT
y Forum will refer the complaint to the opposite party with a direction to y y y y

furnish a reply within 30 days (extension of 15 days eligible if applied within 30 days). - Reply is to be furnished for every material facts alleged by the complainant in the complaint and also new facts in favour of the opposite party may be stated. - It will be in a concise form, may be divided into paragraphs and numbered consecutively. - Conclusion of law should not be pleaded. Legal pleas such as estoppel, limitations, resjudicata etc., may be pleaded.

RELIEF:
y The forum, after its proceedings, if satisfied that the allegations

in the complaint are proved, shall inter-alia, order to y - pay such amount as may be awarded by it as compensation to the customer for any loss or injury suffered by the consumer due to the negligence of the opposite party. y - provide for adequate cost to the parties. y -Amount due on application being made by the parties to the district collector; will be recovered in the same manner as arrears of Land Revenue.

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APPEAL
y State Commission is the appellate authority for district forum y National Commission for State Commission & y Supreme Court for National Commission. y - Appeal should be prepared within 30 days from the date of receipt of the order. y - Memorandum is to be filed in four copies either in person or through registered post along with certified copy of the order. y - Rs 25,000 or 50% of the amount ordered which ever is less, in the case of State Forum and Rs 35,000 or 50% of the amount ordered which ever is less in the case of National Forum, is to be deposited.
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DOP VIS-A-VIS CONSUMER CASES Sec 6 of IPO Act

y The Govt shall not incur any liability by reason of the

loss, mis delivery or delay or damage to any postal article in course of transmission by post except in so far as such liability may in express terms be under taken by the Central government as here in after provided; and no officer of the post office shall incur any liability by reason of any such loss, mis delivery, delay or damage unless he has caused the same fraudulently or by his willful act or default.

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Sec 33 of IPO Act:

y Subject to certain conditions and restrictions, as the

Central Government made by rule prescribe, the Central Government shall be liable to pay compensation, not exceeding the amount for which a postal article has been insured, to the sender there of for the loss of the postal article or its contents or for any damage caused to it in course of transmission by post, provided that compensation so payable shall in no case exceed the value of the article lost or the amount of the damage caused.
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Rule 66 B of PO Rules 1933

y In case of delay of Speed Post article beyond the norms

determined by the DOP from time to time, compensation will be provided, which shall be equal to composite speed post charges paid. In the event of loss of SP article, or loss of contents, or damage to the contents, compensation shall be double the amount of the composite fees of speed post charges paid or Rs 1,000 which ever is less.

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IPO ACT PASSED IN 1898

y - Laws of the land so long as they are in force have to

be respected and followed. y - All laws in force in the territory of India, immediately before the commencement of constitution of India, shall continue in force until altered or repealed or amended by a competent legislature (Art. 372 of constitution) y - IPC was passed in 1873; Indian Contract Act was passed in 1872. y - IPO act cannot therefore be disregarded with the pretext that it is antiquated or it is primitive.
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NATURAL JUSTICE
y - Protects against arbitrary exercise of power by

ensuring fairplay. y - Audi alteram partem (Hear the other side) y - Nemo judex in causa sua (No man can be judge his own case)

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NEGLIGENCE
y - Conduct that falls below the standards of behaviour established by law for the protection of others against un reasonable risk of harm. y - Behaviour departing from the conduct ordinarily expected of a reasonably prudent person under the circumstances. y - The opposite party is to have a duty to the complainant. y - The opposite party breached that duty by failing to conform to the required standard of conduct. y - The opposite party s negligent conduct was the cause of the harm to the complainant and the complainant was infact harmed or damaged.
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VICARIOUS LIABILITY
y - Responsibility created upon one person, for the

failure of another, with whom the person has a special relationship (such as parent and child, employer and employee, owner of a vehicle and driver etc.,) to exercise such care as a reasonably prudent person would use under similar circumstances. y - is a legal doctrine that assigns liability for an injury to a person who did not cause the injury but who has a particular legal relationship to the person who did act negligently.
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RESJUDICATA:
y - Once a law suit is decided, the litigant parties are

barred from raising the same issue again in the courts (unless material new evidence has become available). y - They are also barred from raising another issue arising from the same claim or transactions (or a series of claims or transactions) that could have been, but was not raised in the decided suit. y - It is based on the principle that court cases cannot be allowed to go on for ever and must come to an end. y - Latin for a thing adjudicated.
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STARE DECISIS:
y - Once a principle of law has been determined by an

appellate court to be applicable to the facts of a case, it will be followed in the future cases involving substantially identical facts, unless over ruled by the same or a higher court. y - It underlies the common law doctrine of precedent. y - Latin for to stand by things decided.

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THANKS
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