THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986

By:Sidharth Nagpal

Manjari Varshaney

Gurpreet Singh

Ashwinder Kaur

Suman

OBJECTS OF THE ACT

Providing better protection of interest of consumers

Protection of rights of consumer Providing for the establishment of consumer

council and other authorities Settling consumer disputes and matters

connected therewith

RIGHTS OF CONSUMERS

Right to Safety Right to be Informed Right to Choose Right to be Heard Right to Seek Redressal Right to Consumer Education

1. RIGHT TO SAFETY

Right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services which are hazardous

2. RIGHT TO BE INFORMED

Right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, standard of goods or services so as to protect the consumers against unfair trade practices

3. RIGHT TO CHOOSERight to be assured access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices

4. RIGHT TO BE HEARD Right to be represented in various forums

formed to consider the welfare of consumers

5. RIGHT TO SEEK REDRESSAL

Right to seek redressal against unfair practices or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers

6. RIGHT TO CONSUMER EDUCATION

Right to acquire knowledge to be an informed consumer

BASIC DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS

Consumer

Complainant (who can file a complaint)

Complaint

Unfair Trade Practice

1. CONSUMER

A person who buys any goods for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and partly promised

A person who hires or avails of any services for consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and partly promised

2. COMPLAINANT

A complainant may be: A consumer Any voluntary consumer association

registered under the Companies Act, 1956 The Central Government or any State

Government In case of death of a consumer, his legal heir

or representative

3. COMPLAINT

Complaint means any allegation in writing made by a complainant that:

Any unfair trade practice has been adopted by any trader

Goods bought by consumer suffer from any defect Services hired by the consumer may suffer from any

deficiency The trader is charging excess price for goods Goods or services which are hazardous

4. UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICE

A trade practice which, for the purpose of promoting the sale, adopts any unfair method like:

Misleading advertisement Offering gifts and prizes etc. Not conforming to prescribed standards Hoarding or destruction of goods

CONSUMER REDRESSAL AGENCIES District Forum

State Commission

National Commission

Jurisdiction

Forum / Commission Where the value of the goods or services and the compensation, if any claimed,

District Forum Does not exceed Rs. 20 lakhs

State Commission Rs. 20 lakhs and above but not exceeding One Crore

National Commission Above One Crore

1. DISTRICT FORUM

Set up by State Government in each district of the state and shall consist of:

A person who is a qualified to be a District judge shall be its President

A person of respect in the field of education, trade or commerce

A lady social worker

An appeal against its order can be filed before the State Commission within a period of 30 days from the order

2. STATE COMMISSION

Established in each State by the respective State Government and shall consist of:

A person who is a judge of High Court shall be its President

Two other members who shall be persons of integrity, ability and have experience of dealing with problems relating to economics, law, commerce, accountancy or administration. One of them shall be womanAn appeal against its order can be filed before the National Commission within 30 days from the date of order

3. NATIONAL COMMISSIONThe Central Government shall establish a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission which shall consist of:

A person who is a judge of the Supreme Court shall be a President

Two other members who shall be persons of ability, integrity and have experience of dealing with problems of economics, law, commerce, accountancy or administration. One of them shall be a woman

An appeal against its order can be filed in the Supreme Court within the 30 days from the date of order

Manner in which complaint shall be made : A complaint can be sent to the appropriate Commission/Forum and should be addressed to the President. It should contain the following information :

a) The consumer to whom the goods are sold or

services are provided

b) Any recognized consumer association

c) One or more consumers with same interest

d) The central government or state government

Procedure on receipt of complaint

Reference of complaint to opposite party :

It shall direct the opposite party to give his version of the case within a period of 30 days This period may be extended by a further period not exceeding 15 days as may be granted by the district forum.

Denial of allegation by the opposite party

The District forum shall proceed to settle the consumer dispute in following manner

Reference of sample to the laboratory Deposit of fees Remission of fees to laboratory and

forwarding of report to opposite party Objections by any of the parties Reasonable opportunity to parties of being

heard and issue of order

Powers of the district forum

The summoning and enforcing attendance of any defendant or witness

The discovery and production of any document or other material object produced as evidence

The reception of evidence on affidavits Issuing for any commission for the

examination of any witness Any other matter which may be prescribed

REMEDIES AVAILABLE TO CONSUMERS

If it is proved that the goods are defective and the allegations are correct then opposite party has to do the following things:

To remove the defect from the goods in question To replace the goods with new goods free from

defects To return the price of the good To pay an amount as a compensation To remove the deficiencies in the services in

question To discontinue the unfair trade practice

Not to offer the hazardous goods for sale To withdraw the hazardous goods from being

offered for sale To cease manufacture of hazardous goods To issue corrective advertisement to

neutralize the effect of misleading advertisement

To provide for adequate costs to the parties

Appeal

Acc to sec 15

shall be filed within thirty days.

Delay in filing appeal may be condoned if there is sufficient cause.

DISMISSAL OF FRIVOLOUS OR VEXATIOUS COMPLAINTS Acc to sec 26, “Where a complaint

instituted before the District Forum, the State Commission or the National Commission, is found to be frivolous or vexatious, it shall, for reasons to be recorded in writing, dismiss the complaint and make an order that the complainant shall pay to the opposite party such Cost, not exceeding ten thousand rupees, as may specified in the order”.

Miscellaneous

Protection of action taken against good faith (Sec 28)

No suit , protection or other legal proceeding shall lie against the members of the District forum , the state commission or National Commission or any officer or person acting under the direction for executing any order made by it or respect of anything which is in good faith done

Power to remove difficulties (Sec29)

If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the Central Government could, by order in the Official Gazette, make provisions necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty in the initial period of 2 years from the commencement of this act .

Power to make rules (Sec 30 )

Sec 30 empowers the central govt and the state Goverments , by notifications , to make the necessary rules for carrying out the provisions of this act.

Laying of rules (Sec 31 )

Every rule made by the central government under this act shall be laid , as soon as may be after it is made , before each House of Parliament, while it is in session , for a total period of 30 days. This period of 30 days may be comprised in 1 session or in 2 more successive sessions .