CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, PATNA

“This synopsis has been made in partial fulfilment of assignment of B.A. LLB
course for study of Health Law”

“CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HEALTH”

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Introduction:

Lately, Indian society is experiencing a growing awareness regarding Patient's Rights. This
trend is clearly discernible from the recent spurt in litigation concerning medical professional
or establishment liability, claiming redressal for the suffering caused because of Medical
Negligence, vitiated consent, and breach of confidentiality arising out of the doctor-patient
relationship. The Patient-Centered initiative of rights protection is required to be appreciated
within the economic context of the rapid decline of State spending and big private investment
within the sphere of the health care system and also the Indian Supreme Court's painstaking
efforts to Constitutionalize a right to health as a fundamental right. As of now, the
adjudicating process with relevance medical professional liability, be it in an exceedingly
consumer forum or an everyday civil or court, considers common law principles regarding
negligence, vitiated consent, and breach of confidentiality. However, it's equally essential to
notice that the protection of patient's right shall not be at the value of professional integrity
and autonomy. there's definitely a desire for striking a fragile balance. Otherwise, the results
would be inexplicable.

In this context, there's a deserving need for a two-pronged approach. On one hand, the
desirable direction points towards identification of minimum reasonable standards in light of
the social, economic, and cultural context that might facilitate the adjudicators to determine
problems with professional liability on an objective basis. On the opposite hand, such
identification enables the medical professionals to internalize such standards in their day-to-
day discharge of professional duties, which might hopefully prevent to an oversized extent
the scenario of protection of patient's rights in an exceedingly litigative atmosphere. within
the long term, this adversarial placement of doctor and also the patient would undergo a
change to the advantage of the patient, doctor, and society at large.

Thus, need was felt to guard consumers from excessive consumerism legally in order that
they'll be protected. Accepting consumer welfare because the responsibility of the govt,
Consumer Protection Act, 1986, was introduced to guard consumers legally from fraud and
deceit during the method of consumerism. A separate Department of Consumer Affairs was
also created within the Central and State Governments to exclusively specialize in ensuring
the rights of consumers as enshrined within the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Aims

The aim of the project is to present a detailed study on the topic “consumer protection act”
with reference to health law.

Hypothesis of the study

• All Consumers are not aware of their rights under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986
• Consumer are not vigilant towards unfair trade practices, service deficiency and
adulteration
• There is significant relation between education and general awareness amongst the
consumers
• Consumer do not get fast and speedy redressal under the Consumer Protection Act.

 
Review of Literature:

Key points:

o Joyeeta Gupta (1986)20 in his study “Consumerism: Emerging Challenges and

Opportunities” state that most consumer groups subscribe to the view that consumer
protection involves mainly distribution of information and education. But there are a
handful of consumer groups like the voluntary organization in the interest of
Consumer Education (VOICE) in Delhi and Consumer Education and Research
Centre (CERC) in Ahmadabad which believe inaction at the level of influencing
policy decisions, raising questions in Parliament, doing active research into various
subjects and involving the law to protect the rights of consumer.
o Saraf, D.N. (1990)21 in his book “Law of Consumer Protection in India” narrates the
evolution of consumer law and depicts its development in USA, U.K and India. It
gives a profile of Indian consumer problems arising out of operation of public utility
services which are peculiar to India due to monopolization of production, distribution
and control of some essential goods and services by state and critically examines
utility of certain doctrines like “Caveat Emptor”.
o Sundar G.Bhardwaj, Thirunarayana, P.N. and Rajan Varadarajan, P. (1991)22 in their
study entitled “Attitudes towards Marketing Practices, Consumerism and Government
Regulations: An Exploratory Survey of Consumers in India” states that over 80
percent of the consumers feel that the exploitation of consumers by business firms
deserves more attention than it receives, and the procedures followed by most
manufacturers in handling complaints and settings grievances of consumers are not
satisfactory.
o Savarkar, G. (1996)23 in his study “Consumer Awareness: A Survey Analysis”
concluded that the main reasons, why dissatisfied consumers did not file complaint
before any District Forums were the lack of awareness about the Consumer Protection
Act’s measures.
o Arora, R. (1999)24 in the study “Consumer Protection through Voluntary Consumer
Protection through Voluntary Consumer Organizations” highlighted some of the
problems faced by these organizations were nonparticipation of the consumers in their
activities, ritual approach of the government and poor financial standing of the
 voluntary organizations. Lastly trade and industry also have total ignorance for the
safety of the consumers.
o Amrik Singh Sudan (2002)25 in the study “Activating Consumer Movement: A Case
Study of Division Consumer Forum, Jammu (J&K state)” state that the process in the
disposal of complaints has been observed to be slow due to part time nature of the
faculty members, administrative delays and non-clarity about the provisions of CPA.

 
Methodology of the study:
The method of writing followed in the course of this research paper will be doctrinal as well as non-
doctrinal. The research will be followed with Uniform method of citation throughout the course of
this research paper 
Project outline:

Brief of tentative chapters which the researcher relies its final submission of the research:

a. Meaning and Concept of Consumer Protection: under this chapter the researcher will
discuss the meaning of protection to the consumer and its legal aspects.
b. Consumer Health, Safety & Relationship B/W Patient and Doctor: the primary
concern of this chapter will be to discuss whether the relationship between doctor and
the patient is purely of quid pro quo and why or why not it should be under the scope
of consumer protection laws.
c. Consumer Protection Legislations: this chapter will cover brief discussion of laws
enforced in India for consumer protection.
d. Redressal Mechanisms: this chapter will deal with the legal redressal system for
consumer grievances and discuss whether it has performed so far as it was intended
by the legislature.
e. Concluding Remark: the researcher will finalize the research by putting his views in
this chapter.
f.
Tentative Bibliography:

Books:

 “Consumerism: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities” by Joyeeta Gupta

 “Law of Consumer Protection in India” by o Saraf, D.N.
 Bole, Thomas J., Bondeson, William B. (eds.), Rights to Health Care, Kluwer
Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1991.
 Tobin, John, The Right to Health in International Law, Oxford University
Press, Oxford-New York, 2012.
 Singh, Avtar (2005): “Law of Consumer Protection: Principles and Practice”,
Lucknow: Eastern Book Co., Fourth Edition.

Articles: as may the researcher come across during the research work.

Websites:

• www.consumeraffairs.nic.in
• http://www.nationalconsumerhelpline.in
• http://www.consumereducation.in
• www.cfbp.org
• http://www.consumersinternational.org