CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT: STUDY THE MEASURE OF ITS

SUCCESS

PROJECT BY:

NAME: SHIVANGI

COURSE: B.B.A. LL. B (Hons.)

ROLL NO: 201855

SEMESTER: 4

SUBMITTED TO:

Ms. Kirti

Assistant Professor of Management

A final project submitted for the fulfillment of the course business environment for the
degree of B.B.A LL.B

April, 2020

CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, NYAYA NAGAR,

MITHAPUR, PATNA - 800001
Page | 1
DECLARATION:

I hereby declare that the project entitled “Consumer Protection Act: Study the Measure of its
Success” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for award of the degree of
B.BA.,LL.B at CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, is an authentic work and has
not been submitted to any other University/Institute for award of any degree/diploma.

SHIVANGI

(201855)

B.BA LL.B.

SECOND YEAR.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
The work that goes into a paper is what makes it unique to the person who worked on it. It is
the reflection of the effort put in and the structure created in order to its successful completion.

For the efforts put in this final draft, I would like to thank my faculty, Ms. Kirti Ma’am for her
highly valuable inputs and clarifications provided for the completion of this draft.

I express deep gratitude to my family and friends who continue to push me in the daunting times
of project submission and ultimately, whether directly or indirectly, helping me complete this
project successfully.

SHIVANGI
(201855)
B.BA LL.B.
SECOND YEAR.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The researcher tends to bring to light, using research and reports to analyse the “Consumer
Protection Act and how successful it has been throughout the years

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HYPOTHESIS
The researcher tends to hypothesise that the Consumer Protection Act has effectively and
efficiently worked as a consumer forum, and has successfully provided justice and redressal
to consumers.

SOURCES OF DATA
The researcher will be relying on both primary and secondary sources to complete the
project.

1. Primary Sources: Acts

2. Secondary Sources: Books, newspapers, journals, cases and websites.

LIMITATION
 There is a time limitation for the researcher to finish the research.

 The researcher is limited to his own self for the research.

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CHAPTERIZATION

1. Introduction

2. Research Methodology

3. The Consumer Protection Act

i. Analysis and Possible Loopholes of the Act
ii. Relevant Case Laws
iii. Study of its Success

4. Conclusion and Suggestions

5. Bibliography

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INTRODUCTION

Each country has had a movement for providing consumer justice peculiar to their historical,
social, economic and legal background. The United Nations has played a veiy important role
in laying down the guidelines which serve as a consensus on minimum standards for all coun-
tries, where consumer protection is concerned. The countries all over the world are required
to incorporate the same in their local consumer laws taking into consideration their specific
needs and requirements. In India, the consumer protection can be traced to ancient India
where the unscrupulous traders were required to keep restraint and if they failed, punishment
was prescribed. In modem India the sacred documents, the Constitution envisaged social and
economic justice, of which consumer justice is a part. To fulfil the pious objectives a large
number of laws were enacted by the Parliament for the protection of consumers. However,
many of them had become either out-dated or needed suitable amendments to make them
more effective. These laws provided relief or inadequate relief to aggrieved consumers. In
order to provide for the better protection of the rights of the consumers, the Consumer Protec-
tion Act, 1986 was passed.1

Besides the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter, we consume a variety of things in
our daily lives such as cell phones, digital cameras, soaps, perfumes, cosmetics, among other
things. Thus, all of us are consumers in the literal sense of the term. When we buy things
from the market as a consumer, we expect value for money, i.e., quality, quantity, right price,
information about the mode of use, etc. However, there may be instances where a consumer
is cheated.
In such cases, most of us do not know whom to approach to seek redressal. Moreover, a ma-
jority of us also are unaware of our “rights” as a consumer and often hesitate to complain or
even stand up to unfair practices. We also don't have the recourse of costly litigation to seek
justice and we continue to bear such injustice.
This is where consumer forums, which can help you seek justice against unfair practices
without incurring exorbitant litigation costs, come in.

1 Chapter
V ‘Conclusions and Suggestions, Shodhganga, http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/
10603/62991/11/11_conclusion%20and%20suggestions.pdf, last seen on 16/02/2019.

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What is the Consumer Protection Act?

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, was enacted to provide a simpler and quicker redressal
to consumer grievances. The Act seeks to promote and protect the interest of consumers
against deficiencies and defects in goods or services. It also seeks to secure the rights of a
consumer against unfair trade practices, which may be practiced by manufacturers and
traders.

The agenda of a consumer forum is to provide relief to both parties and discourage long liti-
gation. In a process called 'informal adjudication', forum officials mediate between the two
parties and urge compromise.

The sole purpose of the act introduced in 1986 was to protect the interest of the consumers. It
was a shift from caveat emptor to caveat venditor. It was neither punitive nor preventive in
nature, but compensatory. The intention behind the act was to provide simple, speedy and in-
expensive redressal to the consumers’.2 However, a change or shift in the consumer’s mind-
set, development of technology, and delay by Consumer Courts have hindered the effect or
purpose sought to be achieved by the said act.
This leads to an urgent need on part of the government to enforce laws that could effectively
check consumer frauds and provide necessary amendments in the various provisions of the
Act so as to introduce a more successful mechanism.

2 Loopholes in the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and how the Consumer Protection Bill, 2018 overcome these
loopholes, iPleaders, https://blog.ipleaders.in/loopholes-consumer-protection-act-1986-consumer-protection-
bill-2018-overcome-loopholes/, last seen on 16/02/2019.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The researcher will be relying on Doctrinal method of research to complete the project.

Doctrinal or library-based research is the most common methodology employed by

those undertaking research in law. Doctrinal research asks, what is the law in a particular
case. It is concerned with the analysis of the legal doctrine and how it was developed and
applied. As is well known, this is purely theoretical research that consists of either
simple research aimed at finding a specific statement of the law, or it is legal analysis with
more complex logic and depth. In short, it is library-based research that seeks to find the
"one right answer" to certain legal issues or questions. Thus, the aim of this type of method-
ology is to make specific inquiries in order to identify specific pieces of information. For
example, an investigation can be conducted to find specific legislation that monitors
occurrences of child abuse in a particular jurisdiction. All inquiries will have specific
answers to specific questions that can be easily found and verified, and these are the keys
to is doctrinal or library-based research. These steps include analysis of legal issues in or-
der to determine the need for further research. This stage often involves a great deal of
background reading on a subject using sources such as dictionaries, encyclopaedias, ma-
jor textbooks, treatises, and journals that are accompanied by footnotes. These sources pro-
vide Definitions of Terms that help the researcher understand and summarize the legal princi-
ples involved in the field of law under study. 3

3 Salim
Ibrahim Ali, Dr. Zuryati Muhammad Yusoff, Dr. Zainal Amin Ayub, Legal Research of Doctrinal and
Non-Doctrinal, Volume 4(1) | International Journal of Trend in Research and Development, pg. 493 (2017).

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THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT

This statute is regarded as the 'Magna Carta' in the field of consumer protection for checking
the unfair trade practices and ‘defect in goods’ and ‘deficiencies in services’ as far as India is
concerned. It led to the establishment of a widespread network of consumer forums and ap-
pellate courts all over India. It has significantly impacted how businesses approach consumer
complaints and empowered consumers to a great extent.4

What are the objectives of the Act?

The objectives of the Central Council is to promote and to protect the rights of the consumers
such as:-
1. The right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services which are haz-
ardous to life and property.
2. The right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and
price of goods or services, as the case may be so as to protect the consumer against
unfair trade practices;
3. The right to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods and services at
competitive prices ;
4. The right to be heard and to be assured that consumer's interest will receive due con-
sideration at appropriate forums;
5. The right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or restrictive trade practices
or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers; and
6. The right to consumer education.

The Act of 1986 prescribes for a quasi-judicial machinery for the purpose of redressal of con-
sumer related disputes. The fundamental principles upon which the working of these quasi-
judicial body rests are the principles of natural justice. Further, the Act empowers such bodies
to give reliefs of specific nature and award appropriate compensation to the aggrieved party
as they may find it fit in a particular case.

4 An Analysis of Consumer Protection Laws in India, iPleaders, https://blog.ipleaders.in/analysis-consumer-

protection-laws-india/, last seen on 16/02/2019.
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Chapter III of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 deals with the following:

1. The establishment of three tier Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies namely the
District Forum, the State Commission and the National Commission.5
2. Composition of District Forum6, the State Commission7, and the National Commis-
sion.8
3. the jurisdiction of the District Forum9, the State Commission10, and the National
Commission11

Who is a Consumer?
As per sec. 2(d) of the Act, ‘consumer’ has been defined as any person who:

1. 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 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 per
son who obtains such goods for resale or for any commercial purpose; or

2. hires or avails of any services for a consideration which has been paid or promised or part-
ly 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
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 men-
tioned person.

5 S.9, The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

6 S.10, The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
7
S.16, The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
8 S.20, The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
9
S.11, The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
10 S.17, The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
11 S.21, The Consumer Protection Act, 1986
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In the matter of Dinesh Bhagat vs. Bajaj Auto Ltd., the Delhi State Commission was faced
with a situation in which A purchased a scooter and since the purchase, it was in the posses-
sion of B. B took the scooter for repairs time to time. Later on, B had some complaints about
the scooter and he sued the seller. The seller pleaded that since B did not purchase the scooter
in the first place, they were not liable towards him under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986
as he was not the consumer. The Delhi State Commission held that B, the complainant was
using it with the approval of A, the buyer, and therefore he was a consumer under the Act.12

In the matter of S.P. Goel vs. Collector of Stamps13, the complainant filed a complaint under
the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 when a document that he claimed to be a will was not
registered for a period of six years by the Sub-Registrar, who had sent it to the Collector of
Stamps for action. He alleged that he had faced harassment by the Sub-Registrar and Collec-
tor and prayed for compensation. The National Commission was faced with this interesting
statement of facts, and it was decided that the complainant was not a “consumer” under the
COPRA, 1986. The reason given was that there was no hiring of services by the Complainant
for consideration and because a Government official doing his duty as functionary of the
State under the law could not be said to be rendering a service to the complainant.
Thus, only a “consumer” can file a complaint under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 for
injury caused to him by the actions of the seller or manufacturer or trader, but in order for a
person to qualify as a “consumer”, he must not use goods for a “commercial purpose”.

Analysis and Possible Loopholes of the Act:

1. The Act does not deal with rights of consumers as a class. It does not deal with mat-
ters which are prejudicial to the interest of the public and the consumers and does not
possess the powers of search and seizure. Most unfair trade practices or misleading
advertisements are not investigated as seriously.
2. The act does not contain provisions with respect to misleading advertisements.

12 Dinesh Bhagat v. Bajaj Auto Ltd. (1992) III CPJ 272

13 S.P. Goel v. Collector of Stamps (1995) III CPR 684 (SC)

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 3. There is no special provision for liability of endorsers. Endorsement has not been de-
fined either.
4. “Product liability”, a much needed clause in CPA, 1986. It means responsibility of a
product manufacturer or product seller, of any product or service, to compensate for
any harm caused to a consumer by such defective product manufactured or sold or by
deficiency in services relating thereto.
5. The Act must seek to expand the definition of “deficiency” as per Clause 2(11) and
include acts of negligence or omission or commission and deliberate withholding of
relevant information which causes loss or injury to the consumer.
6. The present act lacks the provision of “unfair contract” which has been incorporated
by the new bill. It’s a contract between a manufacturer or a trader and a consumer
which leads to causing significant changes in the rights of the consumer.
7. The current Act has no provision for the dispute to be referred to Mediation as an Al-
ternative Dispute Redressal Mechanism and also there is no provision for setting up of
Consumer Mediation Cell.
8. Presently, the pecuniary jurisdiction of the District Forum is 20 lakhs and one Crore
for State Commission but according to the current market trends, the Bill sought to
raises the pecuniary jurisdiction. Now the District Commission shall deal with cases
up to 1 crores, State Commission with cases up to 10 crores and National Commission
with cases exceeding value of 10 crores.

Relevant Case Law

1. Chief Administrator, H.U.D.A. & Anr. v. Shakuntla Devi14 (Supreme Court)

In the case, the Respondent alleged that in spite of paying the full price of the plot/allot -
ment as per the terms and conditions of the allotment letter, she was not given the posses-
sion of the plot by the Appellant.
In the case, the State Commission held that the Respondent had established deficiency of
service by the Appellants as there was delay in handing over physical possession of the

14 (2017) 2 SCC 301.

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 plot and was entitled to compensation. In appeal, the National Commission upheld the
State Commission’s order.

2. Om Prakash v. Reliance General Insurance15 (Supreme Court)

In the case, the Appellant insured his truck with the Respondent. The Appellant’s vehicle
was stolen and consequently, an FIR was also lodged. The theft of the vehicle had taken
place on 23.03.2010, the FIR was lodged on 24.03.2010 and the claim petition with the Re-
spondent company was filed on 31.03.2010. On lodging the insurance claim, the Investiga-
tor appointed by the Respondent confirmed the factum of theft and consequently, the Cor-
porate Claims Manager approved an amount of Rs.7,85,000/- for the said claim of the ap-
pellant.
Thereafter, the Appellant made several requests to the respondent, seeking speedy process-
ing and disposal of his insurance claim. However, on non-payment the Appellant served a
legal notice to the Respondent but the Respondent repudiated the Appellant’s insurance
claim citing breach of condition of terms of Insurance by the Appellant. The impugned
term being- i.e. immediate information to the Insurer about the loss/theft of the vehicle.
Aggrieved by the aforesaid, the Appellant filed complaint before the, District Consumer
Disputes Redressal Forum (‘District Forum’), seeking a direction to the respondent-com-
pany for payment of claim amount with an interest @ 18% per annum, along with compen-
sation of Rs.1,00,000/-. However, the District Forum dismissed the complaint of the appel-
lant. The Appellant met with a similar fate in State Commission as well as National Com-
mission, wherein his appeals were dismissed.
In the instant case, the Appellant approached the Supreme Court against National Commis-
sion’s order and challenged the legality and correctness of the said order.

3. Indian Medical Association v V.P. Shantha and others

In deciding this case of deficiency of medical service, the court held that the services ren-
dered by a medical professional fall within the ambit of ‘services’ under the section 2(1)(o)
of the Act. It rejected the contention that a medical practitioner, being a professional and
falling under the scope of Indian Medical Council Act, stands excluded from the CPA.-

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 Moreover, it held that provision of a token fee (for the hospital administrative purposes)
would not include an otherwise free service within the ambit of the definition of services.
Also, the cost of the services paid by the employer or the insurance company would be
deemed similar to paying for the service by the consumer itself.

4. Charan Singh Vs Healing Touch Hospital and Ors.16

The observation of the Supreme Court to the effect that “the Consumer Forums while
quantifying damages are required to make an attempt to serve the ends of justice so that
compensation is awarded, in an established case, which not only serve the purpose of rec-
ompensing the individual, but which also at the same time, aims to bring about a qualita-
tive change in the attitude of the service provider”. It may, in addition, be pointed out, in
view of the number of complaints brought before the Consumer Forums and Commissions,
that the number of complaints in regard to the quality of public services are more than
complaints dealing with defects in goods. Keeping in view the changing economic sce-
nario, the number of complaints in regard to the deficiencies in services would certainly
increase in the future. Therefore, the Consumer Forums and Commissions established un-
der the Consumer Protection Act, need to be given extra attention to ensure its efficient,
effective, fair and inexpensive functioning.

5. State Of U.P. Through Principal Secretary & Ors v. All U.P. Consumer Protection Bar As-
sociation17(Supreme Court)
In the case, the Supreme Court vide its order in January, 2016 had constituted Committee
for examining the aspect of paucity of infrastructure in Consumer Forum and accordingly,
the Committee was requested to forward its deliberations to the State Governments.
Later the Supreme Court had issued direction to the Union Government to frame model
rules for adoption by the State Governments. The Supreme Court in its latest order has now
directed the Union Government to file a a comprehensive status report indicating compli-
ance with the directions issued by the Court on affidavit within a period of six weeks.

16 Charan Singh Vs Healing Touch Hospital and ors. (2000) 7 SCC 668.
17 Civil Appeal No. 2740 of 2007.

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A Study of its Success

Arguing for an expansion of persons allowed to petition consumer courts. Due to the rigidity
of the act, only a “consumer”—that is, someone who purchases goods and services, could
approach the court to complain about harmful practices. It could be stated that this definition
of unfairness is restrictive in that it assumes that only consumers’ rights can be infringed
upon. It does not include unfair trade practices by rival companies, which may negatively af-
fect the sale of products.18
The CPA has had very limited protection against unfair trade practices. A company is not a
consumer under the CPA and cannot approach a consumer forum. In a competitive environ-
ment, an institutional platform is needed for a company to deter its rivals from indulging in
unfair trade practices. Further, an unfair trade practice may cause losses to a company. For
example, an advertisement disparaging products of another company would cause losses to
the company … Effectively, it is only the consumer associations that can approach a con-
sumer forum against an unfair trade practice. As the field has become completely unregulat-
ed, business entities have indulged in unfair trade practices without fetters.19

The government's reluctance to implement the CPA, since its passage in 1986 can be criti-
cised. It was only after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court, she
writes, that any effort was made to enact the law.20
The government set up consumer courts hurriedly, but with scant interest. For example, the
district forum at Mumbai’s Nariman Point was housed in decrepit barracks next to a stinking
toilet; some others had no proper clerical staff, no stenographer to dictate orders to (so orders
reached the parties after four weeks whereas the limit for filing an appeal is 30 days). The

18 How Consumer–friendly is the Consumer Protection Act?, epw engage, https://www.epw.in/engage/article/

how-consumer-friendly-consumer-protection-act, last seen on 16/02/2019.

19 Akhileshwar Pathak, Amending the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, Economic and Political Weekly (Oct
2015), https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/43/commentary/amending-consumer-protection-act-1986.html, last
seen on 16/02/2019.

20 20
How Consumer–friendly is the Consumer Protection Act?, epw engage, https://www.epw.in/engage/article/
how-consumer-friendly-consumer-protection-act, last seen on 16/02/2019.

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district forum at Mysore was set up 10 km from the nearest bus stop. Consumers’ conve-
nience was, apparently, not a priority.21
We can look at how corporations misuse provisions within the act to refuse relief on the basis
of technicalities, and the government's reluctance to mediate the situation.22
The union minister for consumer affairs had sent out a circular to all state chief secretaries in
1999, saying that the clause “goods once sold cannot be returned or exchanged” is unethical
and to be forbidden (DO no II (II) 99-CPU/1647). Neither the states’ chief secretaries nor the
union government have bothered to enforce this far-reaching order, and consumers continue
to be at the receiving end of an exploitative relationship as buyers of goods and services, 15
years after such a directive from the highest authority.23

According to the Major Observations of a study conducted by Centre for Consumer Studies
Indian Institute of Public Administration New Delhi24;

1. The study reveals that the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 had limited impact on consumer
empowerment mainly due to lack of awareness about the Act and its provisions. Compara-
tively the impact has been more on males than females. The urban consumers are much
more aware about the Act than their rural counterparts. It is also evident that higher the age
group more the awareness about the Act and its provisions. Similarly higher the education
level and income level more the awareness about the Act.
2. The Act has much less impact on the marginalised sections of the society who lack educa-
tion and are living in the rural areas with low level of income.

21 Sakuntala Narasimhan, An Unequal Fight: Consumer Protection Act, Economic and Political Weekly (Jan
2015), https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/5/commentary/consumer-protection-act.html, last seen on 16/02/2019.

22 22
22 How Consumer–friendly is the Consumer Protection Act?, epw engage, https://www.epw.in/engage/arti-
cle/how-consumer-friendly-consumer-protection-act, last seen on 16/02/2019.

2323 Sakuntala Narasimhan, An Unequal Fight: Consumer Protection Act, Economic and Political Weekly (Jan
2015), https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/5/commentary/consumer-protection-act.html, last seen on 16/02/2019.

24 Department of Consumer Affairs Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government
of India, Evaluation Report on Impact and Effectiveness of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 Executive
Summary, available at http://www.consumereducation.in/ResearchStudyReports/cpa_exec_sum.pdf, last
seen on 16/02/2019.
Page | 16
3. The awareness level about the Consumer Protection Act and Consumer Rights is higher in
areas where consumer clubs have been set up in schools and colleges and are actively in-
volved in consumer activities.
4. The limited impact and the ineffectiveness of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 to a large
extent is not due to inadequacy of the law or its provisions but it is due to the poor imple-
mentation of the Act and the apathy of the governments and other stakeholders including
the consumers.
5. The effectiveness of the Consumer Protection Act is marginal as far as redressal of con-
sumer complaints is concerned. The District Forums to a very large extent are not able to
deliver justice quickly and in a cost effective manner as envisaged under the Act and there-
fore, consumers are losing faith in the redressal mechanism at the District level. Moreover,
the compensation awarded is so small that there is apathy among the consumers to file
complaints in the district forums as the time and cost factor does not favour the consumer.
Timely complaint redressal is the key to success of the CP Act.
6. There is a broad consensus among the various stakeholders that the delay in disposal of
cases is largely due to the involvement and appearance of lawyers in all cases. Because of
this the proceedings have become too technical, cumbersome, and expensive as slowly the
procedures of the civil court have crept in the proceedings of the District Forums.
7. The District Forums to a large extent lack the capacity to deliver speedy justice due to lack
of adequate infrastructure, poor management of records, shortage of manpower and the re-
quired skill and knowledge of the members manning the District Forums.
8. The delay in filling up of the vacancies at all the three levels of the redressal mechanism
has further added to the problem leading to large pendency of complaints.
9. Computerization of the redressal agencies/mechanism should have helped in better man-
agement of data and thereby bringing greater efficiency in the working of the redressal
agencies. The impact of computerization has been lacklustre due to lack of computer skills
among the members of the redressal agencies, shortage of technical manpower and con-
sumer peripherals, inadequate bandwidth leading to poor internet connectivity and also ir-
regular power supply. This has led to delay in disposal of complaints and the Consumer
Protection Act has not been very effective in protecting consumer interests in the country.

Page | 17
10.Consumer welfare does not seem to be a priority area for the State Governments as there is
no separate Department of Consumer Affairs in the states and it has been merged with
Food and Civil Supplies Department. As a result of this the line department dealing exclu-
sively with consumer affairs down to the village level does not exist. The Civil Supplies
officers are too over worked with PDS.
11. No specific policies/ strategies have been framed by the state governments on consumer
protection. No serious and meaningful effort is made by the state governments to educate
the consumers. Enormous delay takes place in filling up the vacancies in the District Fo-
rums/State Commissions and also in providing infrastructure. State governments mainly
depend on the grants from the central government. In a federal polity unless the state gov-
ernments give importance to consumer welfare, not much can be achieved.
12.The Consumer Protection Councils at the District and the State level have largely not been
constituted. Even where they have been constituted after a long delay, they have remained
dysfunctional and purposeless and the meetings are just a formality and a ritual without
any worthwhile agenda.
13.The Central Government has to play a much more proactive role as far as consumer wel-
fare is concerned. In the present scenario central allocation to states and various other or-
ganizations has to be increased with timely release of funds to sustain the programmes.
Specific programmes have limited impact. At Centre for Consumer Studies, IIPA 8 present
there are no specific long term policies to strengthen the consumer movement. There is a
need to reorient policies and strategies to make them much more effective.
14.The VCOs are major stakeholders in the consumer movement but they lack both capacity
and credibility. The consumers to a large extent do not have faith in these organisations. In
each State there are hundreds of such VCOs claiming to be representing consumer‟s inter-
est. However, only a handful of these have emerged as competent professional bodies
working for consumer welfare.
15.There is no incentive for VCOs to take up consumer complaints; therefore, very few cases
are being filed by the VCOs on behalf of the consumers. Moreover, the compensation
awarded to the consumers is so small that consumers are not encouraged to file cases. The
time and cost factor dissuades the consumers from approaching the forums for reddressal
of their complaints

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CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

The Act was effective and purposeful. However, it can be said that the Consumer Protection
Act, too, had its teething problems and has had its crop of amendments in 1991 and 1993. It
has been successful in providing relief to the consumers as it covers all types of consumer
transactions. It protects the consumers from the burden of restrictive and unfair trade practice
and services. It also protects the consumer from deficient services. The judiciary has played a
very important role in balancing the interests of the providers and users of service. On one
hand, it has come to the rescue of consumers in certain important cases and issues, where it
has enlarged the scope of the definition of services, for providing relief. On the other hand, it
has refused to intervene and has given restrictive decisions. It has clearly held in Vasantha P.
Nair's25 case that patients are included in the definition of 'consumers’ and the professional
services such as those rendered by a doctor are also covered within the term 'hiring of ser-
vices'. Directions have also been issued in a number of cases to provide the minimum stan-
dard of services or maintain the given standards. Thus the judiciary has filled up the intersti-
tial gaps in the Act by its innovations. At the same time it has treated on the path cautiously
so as not to interfere in the policy decisions or to cause unwarranted burden on the providers
of service. Thus it can be asserted from the detailed study that the fifth hypothesis that the
judiciary tried and has been successful in establishing and maintaining a balance between the
conflicting interests of the consumers on one hand and the producer, supplier of goods and
services on the other is sustained. The need is also felt for better control and regulation of
service sector.
An effective, efficient and fair implementation of the Consumer Protection Act is one of the
conditions precedents for promoting the culture of good governance and thereby ensuring the
better promotion and protection of the rights of the consumers. If the rights of the consumers
in relation to the quality of goods and services are assured and taken care of then there will be
no cause for complaints. This situation would certainly create an atmosphere wherein the
clients, customers and consumers would feel satisfied with the things needed most to them. In
this context, the concerns of the good governance need to be mentioned briefly with a view to
establish linkage with the concern of the Consumer Protection law and institutions. Generally

25 AIR 1996 SC 550.

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speaking, the thrusts of the good governance movement are efficiency, effectiveness, ethics,
equality, economy, transparency, accountability, empowerment, rationality, impartiality and
participation. In view of these requirements of the good governance one can easily and with
success establish the co-relations with the concerns of the Consumer Protection law and poli-
cies. From the point of view of the concerns of the Consumer Protection Law, it may general-
ly be emphasised that the concerns of consumers’ rights protection are to ensure fair trade
practices, quality goods and deficiency free services with information in regard to quality,
quantity, potency, components and price with a view to provide opportunity to the consumers
in regard to their choices. In view of the remedies available to the consumers under the Con-
sumer Protection laws there is no doubt that at the end of the day, if efforts of the operators of
law and agencies are genuine and there is a sense of commitment, the culture of good gover-
nance would pervade wherein the consumers would feel highly satisfied and there would be
no real cause for making a complaint or showing their dissatisfaction in any way. Therefore,
the proper and effective implementation of the laws, dealing with the protection of the Con-
sumers’ rights would promote the cause and concern of the good governance. It would, final-
ly, be better to highlight one or two areas with a view to focus the developments in regard to
the protection of Consumers’ rights as well as the concern of the good governance.
As stated earlier, one of the concerns of the good governance movement is to promote and
ensure accountability of producers and providers in public domain. The judgement of the
Supreme Court in Lucknow Development Authority Vs. M.K.Gupta26 may be cited as an il-
lustration. In the instant case the Supreme Court while establishing the jurisdiction of the
Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies created under the Consumer Protection Act empha-
sised that the service provided by a private body or a statutory or public authority are within
the jurisdiction of the Consumer Protection Act. In this context, the Supreme Court also laid
down that any defect or deficiency in such service would be treated as unfair trade practice
and would amount to denial of service. It would be instructive to highlight the observation of
the Supreme Court in the above case in regard to the concept of public accountability. It is,
therefore, necessary that the Commission when it is satisfied that a complainant is entitled to
compensation for harassment or mental agony or oppression then it should, further direct the
department concerned to pay the amount to the complainant from the public fund immediate-

26 (1994) 1SCC 243.

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ly but to recover the same from those who are found responsible for such unpardonable be-
haviour In view of the above law of personal accountability of the concerned public func-
tionary as laid down by the Supreme Court while protecting the rights of Consumers under
the Consumer Protection Act is in fact an appreciable contribution to the body of law on pub-
lic accountability which is one of the major concerns of the good governance movement. In
view of the importance of the law on public accountability and the role of the Consumers’
adjudicatory bodies, the above decision should be made a compulsory reading for all those
having role to play in the promotion and protection of the consumers’ rights and also with the
process of administrative reforms for good governance. Similarly, the approach of the
Supreme Court in ensuring qualitative change in the attitude of the medical service provided
by the hospitals and the medical professionals followed in the Indian Medical Association Vs.
V.P. Shantha and Ors27, deserves high appreciation with a view to giving real meaning to the
accountability of professionals. In Charan Singh’s judgment 28 the observation of the Supreme
Court to the effect that “the Consumer Forums while quantifying damages are required to
make an attempt to serve the ends of justice so that compensation is awarded, in an estab-
lished case, which not only serve the purpose of recompensing the individual, but which also
at the same time, aims to bring about a qualitative change in the attitude of the service
provider”. It may, in addition, be pointed out, in view of the number of complaints brought
before the Consumer Forums and Commissions, that the number of complaints in regard to
the quality of public services are more than complaints dealing with defects in goods. Keep-
ing in view the changing economic scenario, the number of complaints in regard to the defi-
ciencies in services would certainly increase in the future. Therefore, the Consumer Forums
and Commissions established under the Consumer Protection Act, need to be given extra at-
tention to ensure its efficient, effective, fair and inexpensive functioning.

27 AIR 1996 SC 550.

28 Charan Singh Vs Healing Touch Hospital and ors. (2000) 7 SCC 668.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. ACTS AND BILLS

9. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
10.The Consumer Protection Bill, 2018.

B. WEBSITES
1. shodhganga.ac.in
2. blog.ipleaders.in
3. consumereducation.in
4. vakilno1.com
5. epw.in

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