VOLUME 4 ISSUE 3 MARCH 2021 ISSN: 2456-9666

VOLUME 4 ISSUE 3 MARCH 2021 ISSN: 2456-9666

JUS IMPERATOR www.jusimperator.org

ANALYSIS OF THE PROVISIONS OF CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT

2019 & LACUNAS OF PREVIOUS ACTS

-VIKASH KUMAR1 & SHRINGARIKA2

ABSTRACT

In a layman words consumers are those persons who buy goods and services for their own.

However in developing country like India not every consumer is educated and aware of their

right and also many of them are poor, uninformed and backward. Because of these reasons the

businessman and traders who are more organised take the benefit of the situation of consumer

and earn profit out of it. To overcome with this problem a separate legislation had been passed

which is popularly known as Consumer Protection Act 1986. Before this act consumer had only

one remedy to file the suit in civil court which was very time consuming process and due to

which an innocent consumer keep on suffering. Act of 1986 provides a legal framework for

consumer and acted as a panacea to all their pain and distress. But with the passing of time this

act become outdated in solving the issues due to dynamic changing in society and also due to the

introduction of online shopping platforms a new act of 2019 is introduced. Consumer Protection

Act 2019 has incorporated as to fill the lacuna of 1986 act. Under this act a separate regulatory

authority has been made, jurisdiction has been widened. Provision for e-commerce has

introduced, mediation cell has been made etc. The objective of paper is to evaluate the

competency of the act and to see to what extent it advantageous in filling the deficiency of earlier

act.

KEY WORDS- consumer, consumer protection, legal framework, regulating authority,

jurisdiction.

1 LL.M student, Galgotias University 2 LL.M student, Galgotias University



Introduction:

Consumer satisfaction is the main of Consumer Protection Act. Protection of consumer is socio-

economic activity which has to be carried out by government and business entities for fair

dealing with consumer. Even before the independence this concept existed and the ruler were

responsible for consumer satisfaction. But at that time there was no specific legislation focusing

on the protection of consumer. After independence in the year 1986 a specific legislation was

framed for consumer that is Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The movement of 20th century

made the world thinks to make a specific legislation for consumers. The guidelines of United

Nation are the bedrock which was adopted by Indian parliament while framing the Consumer

Protection Act. The consumer protection act of 1986 is the specific the best legislation passed in

the year 1986 focusing on the issues of consumers raised at that time.

The concept of consumer protection is not new to the human civilization. The main goal of such

provision is to protect the interest of consumers and save them from the unfair deals or frauds.

The person belonging to business has to serve the consumers and protect consumer rights said by

Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi. But business entities because of their profit making motive

cheats the consumers and does unfair dealings with them (Singh and Grewal 2013)3. There were

many acts and laws passed for the protection of consumers but the impact which 1986 had was

not seen from the previous ones. Consumer Protection Act 1986 is milestone of consumer laws

in India and almost covered all the consumers’ aspects. This paper discusses the development of

consumer act from ancient time to present time. The paper also discusses impact of new

Consumer Protection Act 2019.

Ancient India: Consumer Protection Act

The protection of consumers from different unlawful activities of the market is recognized since

ancient time. The centuries ago rule of Indian administration focuses to protect consumers from

malpractices and safeguard them against any unlawful act. The various pious Indian smritis like

Manu Smriti (800 BC to 600 BC), The Yajnavalkya Smriti (300 B.C. to 100 B.C), The Narada

Smriti (100 A.D to 200 A.D.), The Brihaspati Smriti (200A.D. to 400 A.D.), The Katyayana

3 Singh Pratap and Grewal Jogender, “Consumer protection in India: some issues and trends”, IJLTET, 2(1),

Jan 2013, pp272-276, 2013.



Smriti (300 A.D. to 600 A.D) (Prasad A.R, 2008) were explained the living conditions of the

people of that time and were basis for the Dharma to be followed at that time.

Most of the consumer related matters and there remedy was briefly discussed in Manu Smiriti.

Arthashastra of Kautilya is one of the oldest and best book dealing with trade and commerce.

Kautilya has mentione about different punishments to different types of exploitations, and wrong

measures and services. The consumer protection was a part of common law during their period.

(Shamasastri, 1951)4.

Pre-Independence and Medieval Period:

During the medieval period Muslim rulers also framed few rules for consumer’s interest.

Alauddin Khilji, Sher Shah Suri, and Akbar etc. considered protection of consumers as one of

prime concerns (Singh, 2014)5. The standardized measure and weight system were introduced by

them. The British rulers combined old customs, rules and culture (dharma) nationwide legal

system that have modern elements of British localism (Prasad, 2008)6. They have introduced

Acts like: _

The Indian Penal Code, 1860

Carriers Act, 1865 Law of Tort

The Indian Contract Act, 1872

The Agricultural Produce (Grading & Marking) Act, 1937

The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

Post Independence Acts:

After India got independence several acts were enacted with the purpose of protecting the rights

of innocent consumers. The acts were enacted to protect consumer from unfair and restrictive

4 Shamasastry R, Kautilya’s Arthashastra. University Bombay Press, Bombay, 1951. 5 Singh, Yashpal, “Effectiveness of consumer forum and its impact on corporate and consumers in U. P. region

(with special reference to banking and insurance companies)” PhD Thesis submitted to Applied Business

Economics and Commerce, Dayalbag Educational Institute, Agra, UP, 2014 6 Prasad, A. R, “Historical Evolution of Consumer Protection and Law in India”, Journal of Texas Consumer

Law, 11(3), pp 132-136, 2008



trade practices like a false and misleading description about the nature and quality of the goods

exaggerated statements about their power and potency, false weights and measurements and

obstruction of capital and resources into the stream of production. The Acts which were enacted

in independent India are given below:

The Drug (Control) Act, 1950

The Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951

The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954

The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954

The Essential Commodities Act, 1955

The Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969

The Cigarettes (Regulation of Production, Distribution, and Supply) Act, 1975

The Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976

The Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential

Commodities Act, 1980

The Standards of Weights and Measures (Enforcement) Act, 1985

The Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986.

In spite of all these acts the consumers problems are not getting solved and these previous are not

covering all the different aspects of consumer matters. The Indian Government after looking into

the matter passed a new act called Consumer Protection Act, 1986 to cover all consumer aspects

and give them appropriate relief from any fraud. The act of 1986 is not derogation to existing

acts but it is an additional act.7

Important Consumer Protection Acts:

The bill which was first passed after independence was the Drug Control Act, 1950. After this

Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951, The Indian Standards Institution (Certificate

Marks) Act 1952 and Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act 1954.

7 Rajanikanth Mekala, “A study on Evolution of Consumer Protection Act in India”, International Journal of

Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM), volume 6, Issue 4, April 2014.



But the acts mentioned above are not able to fully effective and control unfair practices from the

market and protect consumers.

Prevention of Food and Adulteration Act, 1954:

This act focused more on the protection on consumers and made every attempt to protect interest

of consumers. The main aim of act is to prevent social evil practices like food adultery and

ensure purity. The provisions like giving warranty by manufacturers, distributors and dealers, the

disclosure of names by the vendors, food poisoning, the summary trial of cases, forfeiture of

property, etc. The Essential Commodities Act was enacted after implementing this act to extend

control supply, distribution and production of essential commodities.

The Central and State Government framed the rules regarding formation of Central Food

Laboratory, Standard of quality, public analysts and inspectors, ceiling, fattening and dispatch of

samples, coloring matter, packing and labeling of foods, prohibition and regulating sales,

conditions for sale and license, preservative, poisonous metals, and solvent-extracted oils and

edible flour etc.8

MRTP Act, 1969:

Monopoly and Restrictive Trade Practices Act (MRTP Act) 1969, this is the act passed by

Government to protect the rights of consumers. Mahalanobis Committee Report, 1954, Justice K

C Gupta Commission Report, 1965 recommended Parliament to pass this act. The elimination of

concentration of economic power was demolished through this act. The MRTP commission was

formed to accomplish the objectives mentioned in the act. The Act was amended in 1982, 1984,

1985 and 1986. (Pathak A, 2007)9.

Lacunas in the Acts enacted before Consumer Protection Act, 1986:

Even there were many legislation talking about the protection of consumer rights, then the

question is that why need of 1986 act arose. The lacunas and factors responsible for specification

legislation in spite of above mentioned acts are many. The factors are as follows;


Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM), volume 6, Issue 4, April 2014. 9 Pathak, A, Legal Aspects of Business, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Ltd. New Delhi, 2007.



The mobility of consumers’ increased,

The variety of goods and services with modern technology introduced in the market;

Growing size and complexity of production and distribution system;

The level of sophistication was high in marketing and selling practices, in advertising and

other forms of production;

Removal of personal relationship of buyer and sellers as a result of mass marketing

methods10

The consumer movement of that time also helped in enforced of 1986 act. Because previous

are not specifically focusing on consumers the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 enacted. The

previous acts were not able to control the black marketing, adulteration of food, hoarding,

and rampant unfair market practices. The consumer movements started because of

dissatisfaction of the consumers as many unfair practices were being indulge in by the seller.

In that time there was no legal system available to consumers to protect them from

exploitation in the marketplace.

Enactment Process of Consumer Protection Act, 1986:

Even after the passing of several acts the consumer protection has not achieved till the passing of

Consumer Protection Act 1986. In the year 1977 a Private Bill was passed in Parliament but that

bill failed because of lacunas (CUTS report, 2001)11. The 105th report of Law Commission

headed by Morarji Desai, which focuses on resolving the dispute resolution of consumers. The

report was formed on 1984 under the Chairmanship of KK Mathew, the report suggested that a

better system to be established to tackle the consumer problems. The aim is to protect consumer

interest without the consumer being driven to initiate costly and possibly long drawn litigation.

10 Manish Kumar Goga, “Consumer Protection Law in India”, accessed from Legal services on 1st June, 2021,

http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1739/Consumer-Protection-Law-In-India.html 11 CUTS International, “State of the Indian Consumer Analyses of the Implementation of the United Nations

Guidelines for Consumer Protection, 1985 in India”, Jaipur, India; Consumer Unity and Trust Society, with the

support of Consumer Welfare Fund, India 2001.

http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1739/Consumer-Protection-Law-In-India.html



The Madhya Pradesh Government in the year 1984 introduced “Madhya Pradesh Consumer

Protection Bill 1984”. The bill was formed are the extensive study of Consumer Protection Sub-

Committee of Madhya Pradesh Law Commission. The bill has a provision of establishment of

various institutions which is going to make consumer protection more accessible. The Bill had a

provision to establish State Institute of Consumer Education Research and Training, State Fair

Trade Practices Forum and Consumer Prices Review Commission. It also proposed a State action

under Unified Comprehensive Consumer Code. The bill proposed that the consumer activist to

be protected. And punitive damages to be awarded to the consumers who was the victim of trade

unfair practices. The bill was intended to make roads achieve social and economic goals where it

could not act directly (Nayak, 1985)12. The establishment of Consumer ombudsman establishes

councils at district, city, village and ward level to monitor and take consumer complains.

Meanwhile, Government of Delhi (then Union Territory) had proposed a bill for the protection of

consumers (Pathak, 2007)13.

The Prime Minister’s 20-point formula was one of the significant aspects in Consumer

Protection, which was the brainchild of then Prime Minister Shri. Rajiv Gandhi. Initially, 20-

point program was structured by Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1975, restructured in 1982. The same was

upgraded by Shri Rajiv Gandhi to improve the productivity of Indian Economy and to accelerate

the upliftment of weaker sections. Consumer Protection was the 18th point among the

socioeconomic aspects described in that program (Madan, 1998).14

Consumer Protection Act, 1986:

The preamble of the Act says, “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.”

12 Nayak R. K., “A step towards consumerism in Madhya Pradesh”, Commonwealth Law Bulletin, 11(1) pp 24-

248, 1985 13 Pathak, A, Legal Aspects of Business, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Ltd. New Delhi, 2007. 14 Madan G. R, “India of Tomorrow: Problems of Social Reconstruction after 50 years of Independence”, 3rd

Edition, New Delhi, Allied Publishers, 1998.



Objectives of the Act:

The Act seeks to provide for better protection of the consumers. There are provisions in the Act

for the establishment of Councils and Authorities to settle the consumer disputes15.

1. The Act seeks inter alia to promote and protect the rights of consumers.

2. The protection of consumers’ interests and their rights are sought to be promoted and

protected through consumer protection councils established at national and State level.

3. The Act seeks to provide speedy and simple redressal mechanism through quasi-judicial

machinery at the District, State and Central level. These quasi-judicial bodies are supposed to

observe the principles of Natural Justice.

They are empowered

4. To give reliefs of a specific nature and

a. To award appropriate compensation to the consumer.

b. Penalties for non-compliance of the orders given by the quasi-judicial bodies have also been

provided. (Kapoor N D, 2002)16

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 Act came into effect from April

15th, 1987. And Chapter3 of the Act, which deals with Consumer Redressal Agencies, came into

effect from 1st July 1987 (Maheswari, 2008)17.


Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM), volume 6, Issue 4, April 2014.

16 Kapoor, N. D, Elements of Mercantile Law, Sultan Chand and Sons Publishers, 2002. 17 S.N. Maheswari and Dr S.K. Maheswari, “A Manual of Business Laws”, Himalaya Publishing House,

Mumbai, 2008.



Drawbacks in Consumer Protection Act, 1986:

The Act of 1986 has been amended many times because of lacunas existed in the act. The

amendment done in year 1991, 1993, 2002 and 2010 to overcome the lacunas existed in act.

Though the CPA, 1986 has remedies for the consumers in the market place, but they are not

sufficient and a consumer finds himself as helpless due to ineffective legal machinery (Chatterjee

and Sahoo, 2011)18. The legal machinery existing form the consumer was not sufficient to tackle

all the problems of the consumers. The act further needs amendments to provide better provision

for the protection to consumers in the country (Singh and Chadah, 2008)19. There is no specific

regulator to hear the consumer problem in the act of 1986. The problem faced by the buyer in

filing the case because case has to be filed in the place where seller’s (defendant) office located.

The pecuniary jurisdiction of district is less that’s why the buyer cannot approach the district

consumer forum but they have to go to State or National forum directly. The provision related to

e-commerce was not in the old act this was creating problems as if the consumer cheated on

online platform where he will file complain and which provisions to follow. No meditation cells

where there to solve dispute within them to resolve dispute. That’s why amendment is proposed

in the 1986 act, in the year 2011 before the Parliament which was lapsed and Amendments were

proposed in the year 2105, for which the bill has been in pending for approval. In the recent past

Government has initiated a series of steps to strengthen the mechanism of consumer protection,

in the era of E-commerce (“Major Proposed Changes in Consumer Protection Act”, 2016)20.

Consumer market have undergone huge transformation since the enactment of the Consumer

Protection act in 1986, this is one of the reason new amendments were required. The emergence

of global supply chains, raise I international trade and the rapid developments of e-commerce.

Presence of increasingly complex products and services in the market place. Misleading

advertisements, tele-marketing, multi-level marketing, direct selling and e-tailing pose new

challenges to consumer protection and will require appropriate and swift executive interventions

to prevent consumer detriment. The reasons above mentioned are major lacunas in the 1986 act

18 Chatterjee, A. and Sahoo, S. “Consumer Protection: Problems and Prospects”, Postmodern Openings, 7,(9),

pp.157-182, 2011. 19 Singh, S.S. & Chadah Sapna, Consumer Protection in India (Some Reflections), Consultancy Project on

Consumer Protection and Welfare, IIPA, New Delhi, 2008. 20 New Consumer Protection Bill to Ensure Timely Justice ( 2016, October 19), Retrieved from

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/new-consumer-protection-bill-to-ensure-timely-justice-

3091949/



which raises concern that new amendments to be introduced which is going to cover all the new

emerging challenges for consumers.

The amendments to the bill were drafted after due consultation with stakeholders, with more

emphasis to ensure simplicity, speed, access, affordability and timely delivery of justice (“New

Consumer Protection Bill to Ensure Timely Justice”, 2016)21. To handle complaints related to

misleading advertisements, issuances of guidelines, online case monitoring system in the

Consumer Fora, a portal – Grievance Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA) – has been

launched. The government is even planning for e-filing complaints in Consumer Fora22. All this

leads to amendment and enactment of 2019 act.

Conspicuous Provisions of the 2019 Act:

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 received the assent of President and published in official

gazette on 9th August 2019 . While briefing the media about the Consumer Protection Act, 2019

through video conference, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution

Shri Ram Vilas Paswan said that this new Act will empower consumers and help them in

protecting their rights through its various notified Rules and provisions like Consumer Protection

Councils, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions, Mediation, Product Liability and

punishment for manufacture or sale of products containing adulterant / spurious goods23.

Shri. Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India while addressing an international conference

2017, referring to the new Act which was undergoing reforms said:

‘The proposed Act lays great emphasis on consumer empowerment. Rules are being simplified to

ensure that Consumer grievances are redressed in a time-bound manner and at least possible cost.

Stringent provisions are proposed against misleading advertisements. A Central Consumer

Protection Authority with executive powers will be constituted for quick remedial action24.

Nature of our society is dynamic which keeps on changing with changing time and also very

rightly said that change is the rule of nature. With the advancement of technology and other

changes the act of 1986 became outdated and become less capable of handling the modern

21 New Consumer Protection Bill to Ensure Timely Justice ( 2016, October 19), Retrieved from

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/new-consumer-protection-bill-to-ensure-timely-justice-

3091949/ 22 Rajanikanth Mekala, “A study on Evolution of Consumer Protection Act in India”, International Journal of

Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM), volume 6, Issue 4, April 2014. 23 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1639925 24 The Consumer Protection Act,2019, No 35, Act of Parliament 2019(India)



issues. In order to cope up the challenges faced by the earlier act which was almost 33 years old

Government of India came up with the fresh provisions to solve to disputes. Following are the

important changes introduced by the act of 2019-

Definition of consumer- In earlier act the definition of consumer has a very narrow scope as it

use to include only of offline buyers. But this act gave a wider scope to the definition and

included the online buyers under the ambit of this definition. This change was need of the time as

dependency on internet has increased in last two decades and online consumers suffered a lot as

there was not direct provision governing them.

Inclusion of food- Under the definition of ‘goods’ given in 2(21) now food is also added which

is defined under the Food Safety and Standard Act 2006. This is the major step by government in

order to protect those consumers who order food online from the platforms like Zomato, Uber

eats and Swiggy etc.

Inclusion of Telecom services- In the new act the word telecom has been added under the

definition of 2(42) which define service.

Pecuniary Jurisdiction- As the living standard and the lifestyle have been changed a lot so

biggest need was to increase the jurisdiction of courts. Earlier district forum use to see the

matters extend to 20 lakhs rupees but now it has been changed and upgraded to 1 crore rupees.

Same as state commission also earlier used to entertain the matters falling between 20 lakhs to 1

crore rupees but now increased to 1 crore to 10 crore rupees. Likewise national commission’s

jurisdiction earlier was upto 1 crore rupees but now it’s more than 10 crore rupees.

Product liability- Under the new act product liability is added both in online and offline

transactions or purchase. Act of 1986 was only concerned about the physical injury to the

consumer but this act also deals with the mental and emotional suffering. For example a product

does not injures you but it injures your property and because of that you get into emotional

distress then also you can file case against the manufacturer of product 25 . Reason behind

introducing this amendment is to make manufacturer more careful while making the product and

also to increase the safety of consumer. In simpler words manufacturer will be held liable if he

provides any product which damage, defective and deviate from the specification and in case of

services if imperfect or damage then will be held liable.

Mediation- This act also came up with the establishment of consumer mediation cell at all the

three levels. Mediation is basically a out of court settlement of solving the dispute to reduce the

25 The Consumer Protection Act,2019, No 35, Act of Parliament 2019(India)



back breaking burden of court. It is time saving, flexible and non-binding on parties. This will

play a very prominent role in providing the timely justice to the innocent consumers.

Misleading advertisement- According to the section 21 of 2019 act if the central authority after

conducting the investigation satisfied that particular advertisement is false or misleading the

consumer or causing injury to their rights then authority have power to issues direction to

manufacturer or endorser either to modify it or to discontinue with such advertisement. Act also

says that if the authority deem fit can also impose the fine which is 10 lakh rupees and further

extend to 50 lakh rupees and have authority to ban that endorser for making endorsement for one

year either for the same product or some other product.

Unfair trade practice- Under section 2(27) of the new act unfair trade practice is defined in a

wider sense which says that manufacturer or the seller are prohibited to use the unfair trade

practice in promoting the sale or supply of product and services. This section is also step taken in

order to protect the privacy of consumer as it says that the personal information given by the

consumer can’t be share to anyone else unless and until a disclosure is given to them in advance

and they agreed to it. It is a appreciable move on the part of government as it will save the

consumer from getting the unnecessary calls, messages and mails from unknown seller or

manufacturer.

Increase in Jurisdiction- Previously the Consumer had to file the complaint where the

complainant resides or conducts business or cause of action arose but new act gives more liberty

and power to the complainant now the case shall be instituted where complainant resides or

conduct his business. This provision is consumer centric and thus makes it easy for the consumer

to seek speedy remedy.

Central Consumer Protection Authority- This is the most significant change added by the new

act. Under section 10 of the act central government has power to establish the Central Consumer

Protection Authority by notifying the official gazette which specifically made to entertain the

consumer dispute and also aim at to promote and preserve the consumer right.

The Central Authority shall consist of a Chief Commissioner and such number of other

Commissioners as may be prescribed, to be appointed by the Central Government to exercise the

powers and discharge the functions under this Act26.The headquarters of the Central Authority

shall be at such place in the National Capital Region of Delhi, and it shall have regional and

other offices in any other place in India as the Central Government may decide27.





Furthermore, qualification and procedure will also be decided by the central authority. The most

notable feature of the authority is the establishment of a separate investigation wing under

section 15 of the act. Director General and other members of wing shall be appointed by the

Central Government. Authority is equipped with many powers like they can recall the goods,

issue direction and penalties for the false and misleading advertisement.

According to Section 17, a consumer can file complaints relating to violation of consumer rights

or unfair trade practices or false or misleading advertisements which are prejudicial to the

interests of consumers as a class, either in writing or in electronic mode, to:

▪ the District Collector or

▪ the Commissioner of regional office or

▪ the Central Authority28.

The Central Authority has power to investigation the matter or can also refer to other regulatory

authority. In order to make the Authority more powerful act provides them with the search and

seizure power.

Critical Examination of the Act:

Government has taken a big step by amending the three decade old act. Act of 2019 has filled the

many gaps and came up with the more strong provisions for the protection of consumer. But as

we know every coin as two sides same applies here, it is needless to say that new act came as a

blessing in disguised but along with it carries a heavy baggage of lacuna if we look it from

another facet. Following are the loopholes of the 2019 act-

Lack of harmonization- Under every kind of contract it is pre requisite to have two parties here

also we have two parties consumer on one side and seller or manufacturer on another side. Thus,

natural justice principle says both the side should be treated equally but according to the new act

whole burden has been shifted to the manufacturer, seller and endorser. Act punishes the

manufacture and endorser under section 21 for misleading advertisement also the seller if they

adopt unfair trade practice. Here both the online and offline market included. In order to fulfill

the requirement of the act online e-commerce platform like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal etc

have to establish a separate cell in order to provide all the description about the product as

required by the act and to keep a strict check to make sure that on fault should be done on their

part. Although it was the needful to take such prominent step to protect the consumer while

dealing online but on the other hand it is leaving a heavy burden on these platforms due to which

they may withdraw from India with a serious threat to the growth and GDP of our country as




they are generating many job opportunity. Rather than shifting the burden to sellers government

should also suggest some mechanism to them.

Secondly it is not always necessary that it is the fault on the part of seller sometimes product may

get damage by the delivery person about which the manufacturer had no knowledge.

Thirdly if the consumer files the false complaint against the service provider or the seller then

there is no provision to protect this hardship. The provisions of the act are so strict that few of

them like section 90 and 91 the accused will be arrested directly which will defame hi and reduce

his goodwill if not found guilty.

More criminalization approach- Provisions like 2(9), 2(47) and 2(28) are subject to criminal

liability under section 88 and 89 of the new act. Earlier also these provisions were there in the act

of 1986 but carrying the civil penalty but this amendment is directly switching to the

criminalization approach. But generally punishment should be use as a last resort no matter how

mild it is. It is an exception to give punishment not a rule but after assessing the act it seems as a

general rule to give punishment even if harm can be compensate through civil liabilities or by

restoring the other measures than only adopting such a harsh approach is not justified.

Establishment of Central Consumer Protection Council- Act talks about the establishment of

a Central Consumer Protection Authority separately in order to regulate the consumer disputes

and for the purpose of providing effective and efficient mechanism. This authority shall be

established by the Central Government through notification and purpose is to protect the wide

range of interest of aggrieved consumers. Authority has the power to implement all the

provisions including the penal provision. In short the CCPA is the milestone step which will be

beneficial in near future but the establishment of this authority is the biggest question mark.

Moreover, the biggest conflict is between the section 15 and 16 of the act. Section 15 talks about

the establishment of investigating wing and section 16 define the power of District Collector

somehow these two sections show the ambiguity in the act and depict a clear picture of

functional overlap.



Conclusion:

Consumerism is the movements which protects the consumer from unfair trade practices and

promote their interest. This concept of consumerism is growing day by day specially from last 1

decade because of one single reason that now the consumer is not limited to the traditional or the

offline market. With the advent of new technology now consumer can buy the product online as

well and not only the Indian products but the foreign products as well. Apart from the e-

commerce consumer avail the goods and services while travelling through air lines and railways

etc. As dynamic change in the lifestyle of consumer and according to that the market place is

also changing so there is a great need to protect the consumer from the false packaging, labelling,

misleading advertisement and other unfair practices.

Earlier act which was almost 33 years old was unable to keep pace with these changes of modern

and globalized world. In order to fill the gap 2019 amendment is very significant change. The

key objective of the act is to provide a better and effective mechanism to dispose of the

complaint of aggrieved consumer and also to make more strict provisions than before. No doubt

act is very effective and also covers all the deficiencies of earlier act. But in developing country

like India with a huge population the foremost challenges is the implementation of the act. As

mentioned above most of the changes brought by the act were there in 1986 act where civil

liability was attached to them and now Parliament criminalised them. If the act had been

implemented in its true sense then probably we would not have criminalised them. The main

issue is the implementation of the act according to the intention of parliament both by the citizen

and government. Spreading awareness is the prominent factor for making an act successful

otherwise it is just the tiger without tooth. For example if the central authority is being

established by the government then government must focus on making consumer aware about it

as a pre requisite to establish the authority.

VOLUME 4 ISSUE 3 MARCH 2021 ISSN: 2456-9666

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