CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT 1986

The Consumer Protection Act is an act of Parliament of India enacted in the year 1986 to
promote the interests of the consumers. The said act became an effective and comparatively
inexpensive for consumers to enforce their rights and have confidence to take large
corporations to various consumer forum.

The main OBJECTIVE was

 To protect the consumers from exploitations such as defective goods, unfair trade
practices and deficient services. The act deals with the settlement of consumer
disputes and provide inexpensive redressal of grievances by establishing the
Consumer Protection Council (CPC) at central, state and district levels.
 The act confers right to the consumers with a view to empower them and protect
them from malpractices.
 The act defines the consumer as any person who buys the goods or avails services for
a consideration and excludes those persons who buy the goods or services for resale
or for commercial purposes.
 It provides statutory recognition to six rights of the consumers. They are:
o Right to safety
o Right to be informed
o Right to choose
o Right to be heard
o Right to seek redressal

Recently, the parliament gave its nod to a landmark bill, which replaces the three-decade-old,
Consumer Protection Act, 1986; that is,

CONSUMER PROTECTION BILL, 2019

 This bill was introduced by Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution Shri Ram Vilas Paswan originally in 2015. Originally brought out in
2015, the Bill was referred to a standing committee and later reintroduced in 2018,
only to lapse with the end of the term of the earlier government. The bill got
reintroduced in 2019, where the bill was successfully passed by both the houses.
  AIM OF THE BILL
o The aim of the bill is to protect the consumers from misleading
advertisements
o Tighten the existing rules to further safeguard consumer rights
o Establish authorities for timely and effective administration and settlement of
consumer disputes,

It is passed to ease the overall process of consumer grievance redressal.

The bill upon being effective and being notified as the prevalent act must be able to provide
for the same, or higher, ability to the consumers to protect and enforce their rights.

COMPARITIVE ANALYSIS

1) HOW IS THE 2018 BILL DIFFERENT FROM 1986 ACT?

The Bill adds various provisions for consumer protection that were absent in the 1986 ACT.
Key of them being are and also the related positive and negative impacts of the provisions are
mentioned.

 REGULATOR:

In the 2019 bill, CCPA (Central Consumer Protection Authority) is set up by central govt to
promote, protect and enforce the rights of the consumers. It also has an investigating wing to
inquire into violation of rights, misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices, whereas
in 1986 bill there was no such regulator introduced.

 CONSUMER COURT:

In the 1986 act, complaint could be filed in the consumer court where the sellers office is
located. But in the recent bill of 2019, the complaint can be filed in the consumer court where
the consumer resides or works in. it can be said that this is a very consumer oriented bill
and has given the first preference to the consumers.

 PRODUCT LIABLITY:
Under this provision, a manufacturer or servicer is liable to compensate a consumer for the
injury caused to him due to the product defect under 2019 bill under the consumer court.
Earlier in 1986 act, the consumer could only ask for compensation in civil court but not
consumer court. This will save a lot of time and is an easy process as civil court
proceeding takes years,

 PECUNIARY JURISDICTION

In the 2019 bill, the district CDRC will entertain complaints up to 1crore. State will entertain
complaints when the amount is between 1 cr -10cr, and national when it is more than 10 crore
whereas in 2016 bill, district- up to 20 lakh, state- 20 lakh to 1 crore, national – above 1
crore.

This will ease the work of the courts and everything will not be burdened upon to the
supreme court and will save time for the proceedings.

 E-COMMERCE

In this provision, it will be governed to all laws that apply to direct selling. It will increase the
transparency of the website like amazon, flip kart etc by stating the terms and conditions and
information about products; which will prevent the sellers to sell counterfeited products.
There was no such protection for consumers in the 1986 bill.

 MEDIATION CELLS
According to this cell, a mediator may be appointed by the national, state or district
commission will help the parties identify the issues, reduce misunderstanding, clarify
priorities. There was no such legal provision formed in the 1986 bill.

This can be a step back as the consumer goes to the court only after he/she has
contacted the grievances cell and when there is no solution they would go to the court.
So, it doesn’t mean much and they have to go through another round of mediation.

2) CHANGES MADE IN THE ACT

There have been a lot of amendments made in the recent consumer protection bill 2019,

Some of them are:

  CCPA may impose penalty on a manufacturer or endorser up to Rs 10,00,000 or
imprisonment for up to 2 years for a false or misleading advertisement. For
subsequent offence, fine may extend to Rs 50,00,000 and imprisonment of up to five
years.

This will prohibit the manufacturer to sell wrong products and endorses to promote
false and misleading advertisements.

 In the new bill 2019, the judicial qualification of the members of the commission of
the high court or the sessions court is not required but whereas in the earlier bill the
commissions at various levels will be head by persons to be qualified by the judge.

 these Commissions are adjudicating bodies and will look at consumer dispute cases, it
is unclear how a Commission that may comprise only non-judicial members will
undertake this function.?

 In the new bill 2019, it is said that the central government will appoint the members
of the commission but whereas in the earlier bill committee of higher judges were
given the authority to appoint the bill.
 another change is that in the new bill 2019, the money spent on the product will be
considerd as parameter of the case and not the total value of the product/service.

The issue here is, in cases related to land or property the value of the property keeps
changing, what would be done in that case?

 Along with seven rights in the 1986 bill, there has been an addition of five new
consumer rights more. They are:
o Right to file a complaint from anywhere
o Right to seek compensation under product liability
o Right to protect consumer as a class
o Right to seek a hearing as a video conferencing
o Right to know why a complaint was rejected
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

On the concluding note, it could be said that the new Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 enacted
is a major step towards giving power to the consumers and benefiting them. This bill is
completely inclined towards protecting the interests of consumers. It can be said that it is a
complete consumer-oriented bill. As seen from the above analysis, there are a lot of
provisions introduced that portrays a positive impact but there are also some loopholes and
debatable issues which have negative impact on the consumers and could be prevented.

Keeping in mind, the interests of the consumers there are some suggestions written, to
improvise the new landmark bill.

SUGGESTIONS

 Mediations should not be made compulsory as it will deny one,s rights. The

preamble of consumer protection act says it should be very informal but

there are a lot of technicalities involved.

 The provision of strict penalties imposed towards celebrities should be

amended, because even if the intention of the bill is good, the chances are it

will make things more complex. A new genre of due-diligence would arise.

 Appointment of members of govt can lead to biased decisions toward govt

authorities when the case is filed against a govt company and cause conflict

of interest. The process of appointment needs to be amended.

 If the product is bought on discount, that will be considerd as the value of the

case and not the MRP. This would lead to a lot of confusion and would

somewhere be injustice to the consumers.

 There should be an effort made from the consumer side as well. The sellers
exploit the buyers' tendency to purchase impulsively. Consumer should be aware of
impulse purchased traps.
 The consumer should be completely informed about provisions of the new bill, so that
they could avail their rights and prevent themselves from getting exploited.
  The laws need to be simplified, to let consumers know about their entitlements. But in
the bill, the definition of consumer rights is not simplified.

REFRENCES

 Jagran josh, What Is Consumer Protection Act,1986, MAY 7, 2015 17:39 IS

 Shipra Singh, Here's how consumers will benefit under the new Consumer Protection
Act ., ET Bureau|Aug 19, 2019, 06.30 AM IST

 https://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/examining-consumer-protection-bill-2018

 Roopal Suhag, examining the consumer protection bill, aug10, 2018

 5 consumer rights every Indian citizen should know, India Today Web Desk, New
Delhi, August 13, 2019
https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/5-new-consumer-rights-
india-consumer-protection-bill-divd-1580371-2019-08-13

 Insights IAS, Insights into editorial: the consumer protection bill, 2019; AUG13,2019
https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/08/13/insights-into-editorial-the-consumer-protection-
bill-2019/
 Trisampathi sen and Riddhi sachet, understanding the consumer protection bill,2019;
7 aug,2019 2:54pm

 NISHITI DESAI, NEW CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW IN INDIA : BROADENING THE

HORIZON, AUG27,2019
http://www.nishithdesai.com/information/news-storage/news-details/article/new-
consumer-protection-law-in-india-broadening-the-horizon.html