TOPIC NAME :- WHAT IS CONSUMER PROTECTION

ACT,1986?

SUBJECT NAME :- LAW OF TORT/CPL

SEMESTER 3 YEAR (LL.B)

PROJECT SUBMITTED TO:-PROF. NITYA RADHAKRISHNAN

STUDENT NAME:- RAHUL GAJANAN TANDEL

ROLL NO :- 51

DATE :- 09-JUN-2021

SIGNATURE OF INTERNAL FACULTY:-

SIGNATURE OF EXTERNAL FACULTY: -

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project would not have been possible without the fruitful guidance of
PROF. NITYA RADHAKRISHNAN, in charge of subject LAW OF TORT/
CPL, her sincere efforts in explaining the subject and related topic helped us to be
familiar with the subject.
I am thankful to madam to give clear guidance on the vast subject and important
pillar of the law and make ability to clear knowledge about it.

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 CONTENT

Sr No. Content Page No. Remark

1 Background 4

2 Who Is A Consumer? 4

3 Consumer Rights And Responsibilities 5

4 Consumer Protection Act(CPA) 6

5 Case Law 8

6 Conclusion 9
7 Reference 10

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BACKGROUND
It was with the emergence of the free market economy that the concept of “consumer is king”,
widely followed and accepted.  The 20th century was marked by the advent of consumerism
where there were frequent trade wars and conflicts between market share holders with a constant
need to be better than the rest. This resulted in stiff competition with the traders resorting to
unfair trade practices & manipulating the customers and took advantage of the lack of knowledge
of the purchasers.
Soon, there was a need to put an end to this and that gradual shift was noted with the growing
prominence of the notion “caveat venditor” meaning “Let the buyers beware” instead of
previously accepted “caveat emptor” meaning “Let the Sellers beware”. –The establishment of
Caveat Venditor held the seller responsible for any defective goods sold or for any unfair
services rendered.
Unlike the law of torts which is not codified in India, there are certain legislations that have been
formulated for the protection of interests of consumers. Some of the significant enactments that
are aimed at protection of such interests of the consumers include the Sale of Goods Act, 1930,
the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act, 1937, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act,
1940, the Indian Standards Institution (Certification Marks) Act, 1952, the Food Safety and
Standards Act, 2006, the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, the legal Metrology Act, 2009, etc.

WHO IS A CONSUMER?
Section 2(d) of the CPA defines "consumer" as a person who:
"(a) Buys any goods for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and
partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment and includes any user of such goods
other than the person who buys such goods for a consideration paid or promised or partly paid or
partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment, when such use is made with the
approval of such person, but does not include a person who obtains such goods for resale or for
any commercial purpose;
or

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(b) Hires or avails of any services for consideration which has been paid or promised or partly
paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment and includes any beneficiary
of such services other than the person who hires or avails of the services for a consideration paid
or promised, or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment, when
such services are availed of with the approval of the first mentioned person but does not include
a person who avails of such services for any commercial purpose. It may, however, be noted that
"commercial purpose" does not include use by a person of goods bought and services exclusively
for the purposes of earning his livelihood by means of self-employment."

CONSUMER RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Rights of the Consumer
Right to Safety- Before buying, a consumer can insist on the quality and guarantee of the
goods. They should ideally purchase a certified product like ISI or AGMARK.
Right to Choose- Consumer should have the right to choose from a variety of goods and
in a competitive price.
Right to be informed- The buyers should be informed with all the necessary details of the
product, make her/him act wise, and change the buying decision.
Right to Consumer Education- Consumer should be aware of his/her rights and avoid
exploitation. Ignorance can cost them more.
Right to be heard- This means the consumer will get due attention to express their
grievances at a suitable forum.
Right to seek compensation- The defines that the consumer has the right to seek redress
against unfair and inhumane practices or exploitation of the consumer.
The Responsibilities of the Consumer
Responsibility to be aware – A consumer has to be mindful of the safety and quality of
products and services before purchasing.
Responsibility to think independently– Consumer should be well concerned about what
they want and need and therefore make independent choices.
Responsibility to speak out- Buyer should be fearless to speak out their grievances and
tell traders what they exactly want

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 Responsibility to complain- It is the consumer’s responsibility to express and file a
complaint about their dissatisfaction with goods or services in a sincere and fair manner.
Responsibility to be an Ethical Consumer- They should be fair and not engage
themselves with any deceptive practice.

CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT(CPA)

The Consumer Protection Act, implemented in 1986, gives easy and fast compensation to
consumer grievances. It safeguards and encourages consumers to speak against insufficiency and
flaws in goods and services. If traders and manufacturers practice any illegal trade, this act
protects their rights as a consumer. The primary motivation of this forum is to bestow aid to both
the parties and eliminate lengthy lawsuits.
This Protection Act covers all goods and services of all public, private, or cooperative sectors,
except those exempted by the central government. The act provides a platform for a consumer
where they can file their complaint, and the forum takes action against the concerned supplier
and compensation is granted to the consumer for the hassle he/she has encountered.

Classification The Act determined that in case of any violation of these rights, complaints could
be raised and the act provided various provisions which defined what ‘complaints’ were and who
all were entitled to raise those.  Section 2 (1) (b) of the act placed the ‘complainants’ into 5
categories:

 A consumer;
 Any voluntary consumer organization registered under the companies’ act, 1956 or under
any other law for the time being in force;
 The central government or the state government;
 One or more consumers or class action suit
 Legal heir of the consumers

Section 2 (1)(c) further goes on to define what all can constitute a ‘complaint’ and inclusively
defines all issues against which the consumers can have a cause of action.

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VCOs The act was amended twice in both 1993 and 2002. The 1993 amendment was significant
with respect to how it gave an opportunity to Voluntary Consumer Organisations (VCOs) to file
Public Interest Litigations on behalf of a large number of consumers using a combined reading of
both the provisions of Section 2(1)(b)(iv) and Section 2(1)(b)(ii).
Class Action Section 2(1)(b)(iv) allows one or more consumers to file a class action suit which
proved to be the medium for multiple consumers with a common cause to come together and
raise their query before the concerned body of justice. This provision was further exemplified
and the amendment came about in the wake of the 1993 case of Mumbai Grahak Panchayat v
Lohia Machines Limited.

Consumer Protection Council

The interests of consumers are sought to be protected and promoted under the Act inter alia by
establishment of Consumer Protection Councils at the District, State and National levels.

Redressal Machinery under the Act

The Act provides for a three-tier quasi-judicial redressal mechanism at the District, State and
National levels for redressal of consumer disputes and grievances, namely:

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (commonly known as National

Commission)
It has jurisdiction to entertain complaints where the value of goods/services complained
against and the compensation, if any claimed, exceeds Rs10,000,000 (Indian Rupees 10
Million).
State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (commonly known as State Commission)
It has jurisdiction to entertain complaints where the value of goods/services complained
against and the compensation, if any claimed, exceeds Rs 2,000,000 (Indian Rupees 2
Million) but less than Rs 10,000,000 (Indian Rupees 10 Million).
District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (commonly known as District Forum)
It has jurisdiction to entertain complaints where the value of goods/services complained
against and the compensation, if any claimed, is less than Rs 2,000,000 (Indian Rupees
Two Million).

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APPLICABILITY OF THE LAW OF LIMITATION
The District Forum, the State Commission and/or the National Commission shall not admit a
complaint unless it is filed within two years from the date on which the cause of action has
arisen. However, where the complainant satisfies the Forum/Commission, as the case may be,
that he has sufficient cause for not filing the complaint within two years, such a complaint may
be entertained by such Forum/ Commission after recording the reasons for condoning the delay.

REMEDIES UNDER THE CPA

 Depending on the facts and circumstances, the redressal forums may issue orders for one
or more of the following relief(s):
 Removal of defects from the goods;
 Replacement of the goods;
 Refund of the price paid;
 Award of compensation for the loss or injury suffered;
 Withdrawal of the hazardous goods from being offered for sale; or
 Award for adequate costs to parties.
 Removal of defects or deficiencies in the services;
 Discontinuance of unfair trade practices or restrictive trade practices or direction not to
repeat them;

CASE LAW :
Mumbai Grahak Panchayat vs Lohia Machines Ltd. on 26 September, 1990
More than 100 people had registered for the purchase of scooters from LML and had paid the
registration fees of 500 Rupees.
After promising the delivery of the scooters within a specific time, the consumers cancelled their
registration and called for the refund of the registration fees upon non-delivery of the scooters.
A class-action suit was filed on behalf of all the aggrieved consumers and by virtue of the
introduction of claims under PIL as well, people who had not filed the class action suit were also

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entitled to receive the compensation and the court ordered the compensation to the tune of 400
million rupees and took care of the interests of the consumers.

Spring Meadows Hospital v Harjol Ahluwalia on 25 March, 1998

Due to the medical negligence of the staff of a hospital, a child had died and it was contested
before the court in the case of Spring Meadows Hospital v Harjol Ahluwalia, as to whether the
parents of the child had a cause of action against the hospital.
It was ruled in favour of the parents by expanding the definition of the ‘consumer’ as under
Section 2(1)(d) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
It was held that when the child was taken to the hospital to avail the services of the hospital, they
would fall under the definition of a ‘consumer’ as they were a beneficiary of the services. Both
the parents and the child were to be included and thus both were entitled to compensation.
This principle was further reinstated in the case of Indian Medical Association v V.P.
Shantha where 12 major conclusions of the judgment were highlighted with ample emphasis
being laid on the definition of ‘service’ as under Section 2(1)(o) of the COPRA. This helped to
clear the fog regarding the inclusion of the services rendered at hospitals and nursing homes
under the definition as mentioned in Section 2(1)(o) of the act.

CONCLUSION
Lack of consumer awareness and the existence of consumers as an unorganised sector are
problems that continue to plague the Capitalistic economy. It gives the traders an unfair
advantage over the purchasers who are subjected to further market risks. This often leads to the
widespread exploitation of consumers and this is where COPRA as a legislation becomes crucial.
In order to protect the long term interests of businessmen and also to keep Government
intervention at minimum, it is important for the Government to raise their quality of goods and
services and provide an appreciable standard of materials and services to the consumer. The
Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is merely a legislation which tries to keep a check on these
multiple aspects relating to the promotion of interests of consumers.
There are a lot of questions which are yet to answered when it comes to consumer protection and
the role played by both the consumers and the Government. We, as consumers, do have the

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added responsibility to be aware about our rights and to make sure we are not subjected to any
unfair trade practices.
REFERENCES :
https://www.advocatekhoj.com/
https://indiankanoon.org/
https://www.lexology.com/

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