INTRODUCTION

Consumers play a vital role in the development of a nation. Mahatma Gandhi said, "A
consumer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us, we
are on him. He is not an interruption to our work; he is the purpose of it. We are not
doing a favour to a consumer by giving him an opportunity. He is doing us a favour by
giving us opportunity to serve him.” But of late unfortunately cheating by way of
overcharging, black marketing, misleading advertisements, etc has become the
common practice of greedy sellers and manufacturers to make unreasonable profits and
without heed to confer consumer rights and interests.
For consumers to be vigilante and aware, the most important thing is to know about the
consumer rights and the laws that protect them. These consumers protection laws are
there in place because of the recognition that consumers are the weaker of the two
parties and can be tricked by the sellers of the goods and services.
Although in a competitive market, the sellers should serve the interests of consumers
but more often the sellers adopt unfair and restricted practices to exploit consumers.
Thus, even in free market economy the consumers’ rights must be protected by legal
authority.
Most consumers buy goods and services after getting allured by the advertisements
which generally exaggerate the specifications of the products and services. So, legal
protection is necessary to protect the consumers from the exploitation and deception by
the sellers and also to book those involved in these practices. There are many ways in
which the consumers can be tricked to buy a good or a service or they can be denied a
particular service after they have bought the product, some of these ways are,
• Overcharging for the product or a service
• Warranty and AMCs, sellers very often deny or refuse the service of the product
after it has been sold.
• Quality, the quality of the good or the service may not be as per the standards
set by the government
• Hazardous products, the sale of products which may cause harm to the life
It is because of this and increasing helplessness of the consumers and to ensure their
legitimate rights led the United Nation General Assembly, 1985 recommending to the
member states for preventing, protective and curative measures for the benefit of the
consumer.
 CONSMER RIGHTS
The consumer rights are basically the right to have information about the quality,
potency, quantity, purity, price and standard of goods or services. The consumers rights
are as follows:
• Right to Safety, right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services
which are hazardous to life or property. The purchased goods and services
should not only meet their immediate need, but also fulfil long term interests.
Before purchasing the product, the consumer should correctly assess the quality
of the product as well as insist on the guarantee of the product or the service.
They products purchased should preferably of the standard quality set by the
government of India i.e. products marked ISI, AGMARK etc.
• Right to Information, right to be informed about the quality, potency, quantity,
purity, price and standard of goods or services. Consumers should insist on
acquiring all the relevant information about the product or service prior to their
purchase. This is just to ensure that they don’t fell prey to high pressure selling
technique and instead they act wisely and responsibly. Thus, this right aims to
give easy access of information to the consumers.
• Right to Choose, right to be assured, wherever possible of access to variety of
goods and services at competitive price. But if there is a monopoly for a product
then this right assures satisfactory quality and service at a fair price. Also
included is right to basic needs and services. This is because of the fact that
unrestricted right of the minority to choose can mean a denial for the majority
of its fair share. This right can be very useful in a competitive market where
many goods are available at a competitive price.
• Right to be Heard, the consumer’s interest will receive due consideration at
appropriate forums. It also includes right to be represented in various forums
formed to consider the consumer’s welfare. The non-political and non-
commercial consumer organizations can be formed by the consumers which can
be given representation in various committees formed by the government and
other bodies in matters relating to consumers.
• Right to Redressal, means right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices
or exploitation of consumers. It also includes right to fair settlement of the
genuine grievances of the consumer. Consumers may complain for their
 genuine grievances. Sometimes it might be the case that the complaint is of very
small value but it can prove very beneficial to the society. Consumers can also
seek help from the consumer organizations in seeking redressal of their
grievances.
• Right to Consumer Education, right to acquire knowledge and information to
become an informed consumer. The negligence and lack of awareness on the
part of consumers is the main reason for their exploitation. Thus, they should
know well about their rights and the laws protecting these rights which will
essentially lead to the consumer protection.
There are very strong and clear laws in India to protect the consumer rights. Out the
various laws enforced to protect these rights, the most important is the Consumer
Protection Act, 1986. According to this law, everybody, including individuals, a firm,
a hindu undivided family and a company, have the right to exercise their consumer
rights for the purchase of goods and services made by them. The Consumer Protection
Act, 1986 and several other laws like the Weights, Standards & Measures Act can be
formulated to make sure that there is fair competition in the market and free flow of
correct information from goods and services providers to the ones who consume them.
If there is any infringement of rights of the consumer then the complaint can be filed
under following heads and reported the close by designated consumer court:
• The goods or services being purchased or about to be purchase have any defect
or deficiency in any respect
• The seller of the goods or the service provider gets involved in the unfair
practices of trade
• If the seller of a good or service is charging price that is more than the displayed
price or higher price than what was agreed upon or a price that was not equal to
or follow the conditions set by the government
• Goods or services that may be harmful to the life of a person, knowingly or
unknowingly
The government of India to protect the interest of the consumers and to protect their
rights as consumers have Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
who has incorporated the Department of Consumer Affairs as the nodal organization to
protect the consumer rights, redress the consumer grievances and promote the standards
governing goods and services provided in India.
 CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT
The Consumer Protection Act, an act of the Parliament of India enacted in the year
1986 to protect the interest of the consumers and protect them from exploitation by
the sellers of goods and services. This act was passed in Assembly in the year October
1986 and came into force on December 24, 1986 (ACT 68)
It seeks to promote and to protect the consumer rights of the people. The Act has
given the definition of consumer and only the complainant who falls under this
definition can file the complaint. Some important definitions as give under the act are
as follows:
• Consumerism, the protection of consumers against the dangerous goods or
services.
• Consumer, person or a group who entered in the trade to buy a good or a
service.
• Complainant,
➢ A consumer to whom goods or services are sold or agreed to be sold
➢ Voluntary consumer organizations
➢ Central governments
➢ State governments or Union Territory administrations
➢ One or more consumers having similar interests
Example, where a young child is taken to the hospital by his parents and the child is
treated by the doctor, the parents of such a minor child can file a complaint under the
Act - Spring Meadows Hospital v. Harjot Ahluwalia JT 1998(2) SC 620
The definition as provided under Sec. 2(1) (b) is different from list of persons who can
file complaint. The legal heirs or representatives of the deceased have been included in
definition of ‘complainant’ by 2002 amendment but have not been specified in Sec.
12(1) as person who can file complaint, which, creates a doubt that he cannot file and
can only continue as a complainant after the death of the complainant. - Joseph Alias
Animon v. Dr. Elizabeth Zachariah (1) 1997 CPJ 96.
• Complaint, one of the following must be included in a complaint,
➢ An unfair or restricted trade practice being used by a trader
Example, Sourajit sold a six months old car to Saksham representing it
to be a new one. Here Saksham can make a complaint against Sourajit
for following an unfair trade practice
➢ Goods bought are defective
Example, Ishaan bought a computer from Sourajit. It was not working
properly since day one. Ishaan can make a complaint against Sourajit for
supplying him a defective computer
➢ Services hired or greed to be hired suffer from some or the other
deficiency
 Example, Pratik hired services of an advocate to defend himself against
his landlord. The advocate did not appear every time the case was
scheduled. Pratik can make a complaint against the advocate
➢ Trader is overcharging for a good or service
Example, Sagar bought a sack of cement from Mayur who charged him
Rs. 100 over and above the reserve price of the cement declared by the
Government. Here Sagar can make a complaint against Mayur
➢ The goods or services being sold are hazardous to life or property and
also do not carry any precautionary note on the packing
Example, Rajesh bought a tin of disinfectant powder. It had lid which
was to be opened in a specific manner. Trader did not inform Rajesh
about this. While opening the lid in ordinary way, some powder flew in
the eyes of Rajesh which affected his vision. Here Rajesh can make a
complaint against the trader.

AMENDMENTS IN THE ACT

The Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 2002 (62 of 2002) was brought int force
on March 15, 2003. The proposals of the amended act mainly included the faster
disposal of complaints, enhancing the capabilities of redressal agency, strengthening
them with new powers, streamlining the procedures and widening the scope of the act
to make it more functional and effective and also to strengthen Consumer movement at
grassroot level.
The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 has been amended several times which were
basically aimed at:
• Widening the scope of the act and amplifying it provisions
• Facilitating quicker disposal of complaints
• Rationalising the qualifications and procedures of selection of top-level
management in consumer forum
The latest amendment made in the act is in 2019 which majorly introduces a central
regulator, strict penalties for misleading advertisement and guidelines for e-commerce
and electronic service provider. Changes in the new Act are as follows:
• Consumer courts are present at district, state and national level. The act has
given the ability to the consumer courts to select the case based on the value of
the case. Also, now the consumers can file the case from anywhere irrespective
from where the trade happened.
• Product Liability, the act proposes that the trader has to compensate the buyer
for the damage caused by the faulty goods and services sold. The major impact
of this on the e-commerce industry which are also covered under its ambit.
• E-commerce under the radar, the provision proposes that all the e-commerce
platforms have to disclose the information of the seller such as address, email,
website etc. and other conditions related to return, exchange, warranty status
etc. If any defected good or service is being sold are recognised or reported then
these platforms can be penalised.
• Separate regulator, this act proposes the establishment of a central regulator,
Central Consumer Protection Authority, to address issues related to consumer
rights and other unfair trade practices. In general, the overall purpose of Central
Consumer Protection Authority is to strengthen the existing consumer rights.