Although the Consumer Protection Act has successfully protected consumers’ rights, yet a more responsible system to deliver fair and square justice is required…
Indian legal system experienced a breakthrough with the introduction of the Consumer Protection Act in 1986 (the Act). While the main objective of the Act was to ensure adequate protection to the rights of the consumers, it has also gained the reputation of being a better alternative to the time consuming and expensive litigation process in India. In order to make it easy for the average consumer to seek justice, the system of the consumer courts have been made in the most cost-effective and consumer-friendly manner.
Not only individuals, but consumer organisations, NGO’s and other collective consumer bodies are allowed to exercise the rights laid down by the Act. Over the last two decades, the consumer fora in the country have successfully dispensed justice to millions of consumers in cases of various fields, such as product liability, deficiency in services and medical negligence to name a few.
Hon’ble Mr. Anupam Dasgupta Member, NCDRC
The first objective of the law is expeditious disposal of cases. Inexpensiveness is a function of expeditious disposal. The more quickly you work, the less the cost of the government and consumer per case. There are several injunctions in law like ‘Don’t give an adjournment’ or ‘If you have to, then not for more than three weeks.’ This just shifts the bottleneck from one point of time to another. In a state like Uttar Pradesh which accounts for nearly one-sixth of the total arrears in the whole country, if there is a commission with just three Members, how can the situation improve? I strongly think that addition of benches to the consumer fora is the need of the hour.
Recently, in a significant judgement this year, the Supreme Court held that the consumer courts can no longer entertain telecommunication disputes. While this is a boon for the telecommunication companies, insofar as the time-consuming litigation process can work in their favour, the position of the consumer of these services is still in the dark.
With the recent development of consumer protection in the developed countries like UK, US and Canada, there is a high level of expectation from the Indian government to expand the scope of consumer laws in India. The government is expected to develop and maintain a strong consumer protection policy taking into account the guidelines and relevant international agreements.
In the US, recently the government of Texas has proposed more stringent requirements for air bags in all big vehicles as a safety norm failing which the consumer will have a right against the motor vehicle company. The EU has recently bid to modernise travellers’ consumer protection by introducing a package of rights of the consumers, w ho book their own flightand arrangement via the Internet. Popular social networking site Facebook and game developer Zygna were sued recently for posting misleading advertisements, which were prompting consumers to post personal details such as credit card numbers for fraudulent transactions.
In the light of this, the adage ‘Consumer is King’ continues unblemished in the developed countries. However, this is not the state of things in India, at least not yet. Given the imbalanced ratio of cases and consumer courts, some recent Supreme Court rulings have had a significant impact on the certain key aspects of the consumer laws in India.
Since the enactment of the Act, there was a grave confusion about the basic definition of a ‘Consumer’. Whereas in the UK and the US, this aspect is clearly defined in the counterpart laws, the Indian legislation has left a lot of room for interpretation of ‘who falls within the ambit of the section defining a ‘Consumer’ under the Act. The result is that till date, there is a lot of ambiguity on the subject and with the Apex Court’s decisions often setting aside the consumer fora’s decisions, the consumer is
The consumer protection law in India is well-intentioned but it’s actual execution, I would say, is not very satisfactory. Ultimately, I think it depends on the persons who occupy the office of the consumer courts. Those who have not merely a judicial approach but also some compassion and consideration for the consumer would be the best-suited. Those who take a very technical and procedural approach have not been able to appreciate the consumers’ problems and grievances and look at the complaint from the perspective of the consumer and that has been, I think, a signal failure of the system.
Some of the judges who have manned positions in either the National Commission or State Commissions have been extraordinarily good. One should not look at consumer disputes as a purely adversarial kind of situation because then everything goes haywire. I think there should be some training for every Member and Chairperson of the Consumer Commission in mediation. They should be able to resolve the dispute and see what are the grievances and if so, how best to remedy it.
I think that this judgment was very wrong. I was present when this judgment was pronounced, unfortunately, the consumer was not even represented. I think the reasonable thing for the Apex Court was to have at least given an opportunity or appointed an amicus curae and then heard the matter. Without even hearing the other side, the Court passed the judgment, which, I think, is contrary to the views taken by it earlier.
Upgradation of the Act is needed. For instance, claiming sovereign exceptions which exempt government institutions from the purview of consumer law is outmoded, the fact is that government is not supposed to be giving hospital or postal services as a function. These services are given by the government as part of certain social welfare functions. Now, unfortunately, those who operate the institutions run by the government are not imbued with the concept of ‘service’. If there are deficiencies in services, there is no point in saying that these were given by the government as part of its sovereign functions and therefore they can not come under the Act. I think that this is one area which needs to be made clear.
Another aspect is related to insurance companies. Consumer Court directs the consumer to file a normal civil suit in commercial disputes involving insurance. I think that’s another area which needs to come under the Consumer Court’s jurisdiction; otherwise the government should set up a separate insurance grievance
left to his own limited wisdom, or the intellectual prowess of an attorney as to whether the rights vested in the Act can be invoked or not.
The law is simple: a consumer suffering at the hands of a service provider for deficient services or a manufacturer for defective goods can take the defaulting party to the various consumer courts in the country, depending on the jurisdiction and the damages sought. However, it is in the implementation and the interpretation of the law that the real state of the consumer law can be judged. Hon’ble Mr. Dasgupta adds “In the United Kingdom, there is a government office which looks into pre-printed agreements of organised service providers like housing companies, analyses them and then rules whether a set of clauses is equitable or not. The office then negotiates with the service provider on behalf of the consumers and suggests the remedy. This helps consumers who cannot understand or negotiate such agreements. Since the role of private suppliers and service providers has definitely become very important in India, we need to bring in such a measure in to our law and I think this will really go a long way.”
Recently, in a significant judgment this year, the Supreme Court held that the consumer courts can no longer entertain telecommunication disputes. While this is a boon for the telecommunication companies, insofar as the time-consuming litigation process can work in their favour, the position of the consumer of these services is still in the dark. Whether he is supposed to approach the tribunals set up under the Act, or whether he will have to get entangled in a protracted litigation in other courts of law, this matter remains to be seen.
Another significant development on the same lines that took place a few months ago is that now, along with telecom service providers, even education boards have been ruled out of the ambit of ‘service providers’ by the Apex Court. Till the Court’s decision in the said issue, the District Consumer Forum, the State panel and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC or National Commission) held education and examination boards liable under the Act. Setting aside the concurrent findings of these bodies, the Apex Court held, “We are clearly of the view that the (examination) board is not a service provider and a student who takes an examination is not a redressal system. Today if you look at the case statistics, a majority of them are insurance disputes.
Filling up of these posts, just as in all other tribunals, has become a sinecure for persons about to retire from government or judicial posts. These posts in the consumer commissions are given almost like a reward to persons who have been the favourites of ministers or those who have not rubbed the government on the wrong side. Those who have been honest, proactive and pro-citizen are invariably not given any of these posts. That I think is a basic defect in the machinery or the system. Although I think that Members of the Commission should be given adequate salaries and benefits but why do they think that they are courts that need law clerks? Consumer Court is not laying the law, they are resolving disputes. They should settle disputes maximum within two hearings. They want to look at themselves as a ‘judge’. Just because some person is manning the Consumer Commission thinks that because he has been a retired judge in the past, he needs a law clerk to resolve issues is totally unreasonable, except for in exceptional situations. It is the function of the Supreme Court to lay down laws. There is a total misapprehension and misunderstanding about the positions in the Consumer Courts. I think that is wrong.
According to Article 141, the judgement of the Supreme Court is the law of the land and to some extent, High Courts have original disputes where constitutional matters come up. However, all the disputes which are being dealt by the consumer commissions are based on well-settled legal positions laid down by the Supreme Court and high courts.
consumer.” In the instant case, a student had lost a year due to the lapse on part of the examination board in releasing his examination result sheet.
The problems faced by consumers across the globe are mostly similar in nature and hence, the remedies available to them in one country of the world should complement and be enriched by the remedies designed for consumer issues in the other parts of the world as well. The Indian consumer law calls for an internationalisation of the existing legislation to include in its ambit a broader definition of the consumer and service providers, so that the majority of grievances can be decided by the efficient consumer courts of the country. The officials manning the consumer fora have an important role. According to Hon’ble Mr. Dasgupta, “It is about time to provide the assistance of law clerks to at least the Members of the State Commissions and the National Commission. One can say from experience, that essentially, just to collect and compile the facts and some material from the law books or literature takes the bulk of time. Any hardworking, sincere graduate, with a certain amount of training on a reasonable stipend can do this.”
The developed countries are focusing on addressing the real issues concerning poverty and promoting development through consumer laws. Ideologies of the government concerning capitalism and welfare need to be evaluated. The judiciary also needs to take into account the vulnerability of the consumer in the backdrop of the powerful industrial setup of service providers and manufacturers. There is also a need to regulate the rights and responsibilities of service providers and also those giving financial services.
Lastly, the environmental responsibility of the corporate sector keeping in mind the consumer’s welfare needs, an area that has gone unnoticed till now, needs to be addressed. Both the law makers and the courts need to address them in order to provide a better and a more accountable system of delivering justice to the consumers in India.
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