CONSUMER RIGHTS

With the advent of latest technologies, modern equipment’s and cut throat competition in the
market; there arise the needs to protect consumers. This is totally due to change in economic
situation of society. Initially, there exist the barter systems, where the person enters into give
or take relationship, which required little protection. Later on with the modified economy, the
demand for the protection of consumer class increased. “Consumer” who once known to be
“the king of the market” began to be exploited, cheated and victimised by the traders for their
own profits. The most important considerations generally are quality, price and availability. It
is regard to these three fundamental requirements that it become necessary to focus on
attentions, while attempting to seek redressal of any felt grievances.

To protect the interest of consumers various legislations have been enacted. These are
Prevention of Food and Adulteration Act, Essential Commodities Act, Drugs and Cosmetics
Act, Sales of Goods Act, Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act and few others.
This is apart from the provisions laid down in the Indian Penal Code and Law of Torts for
protecting the interest of consumers.

In 1962, John F Kennedy, the President of USA made a historic declaration at the US
Congress: “Consumers, by definition include us all. They are largest economic group in the
economy, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic division....but,
they are the only important group... whose views are often not heard”.

He spelt out four basic consumer rights: Right to safety; Right to information; Right to
choice; and Right to representation. Since J.F. Kennedy, the president of the USA, declared
the consumers rights publicly for the first time on the March 15th, 1962 and this day is
celebrated as an International Consumer Day every year.

In 1976, the Supreme Court in India observed that the protection of the consumer is the need
of the society. It stated : “ we hope the vigilant Legislation will actives itself on behalf of the
little man and the law and make quick moving, easily accessible and free of cost consumer
protection measures”

In India, consumer movement began to develop in the 1960s though it took its shape in the
late 1980s. In 1982, an ‘Asian Seminar in Consumer Protection’ was organised in schools and
colleges, Taking this land mark consumer movement into consideration, the then Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi included consumer protection as the 17th programme and it was put
on the national agenda, For the first time the need to create a statue for the protection of the
consumers was felt. It was during Rajiv Gandhi’s short tenure as the Prime Minister, this
benevolent legislation “Consumer Protection Act 1986 Bill was presented to the parliament
and subsequently passed. It was drafted after consultations with various consumer
organisations and activists.

The National Consumer Day is observed every year in India on 24th December. On this day
the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 had received the assent of the President of India.
The said Act for the first time recognized the concept of consumerism and identified
consumer as separate class while conferring additional rights to them. With the enactment of
this law, consumers now feel that they are in a position to declare: ‘Sellers Beware!’ whereas
previously since they were at receiving end and generally told as Buyers Beware!

The Act not only provides for better protection and interest of consumers but it also provides
for speedy and inexpensive justice with the minimum formalities at low cost, since it does not
need any court fee or lawyer. The Act is an important piece of social welfare legislation and it
is compensatory in nature. It provides justice by paying for mental agony, pain and suffering.
The Act empowers consumers by granting them necessary legal rights and enables them to
participate directly in market economy. It also tries to inculcate a sense of accountability
among traders and providers. The consumer protection Act aims at giving protection and
redress to the person who has been aggrieved by defect in goods and services.

The above said 1986 Act, has been amended in 1993 to include services within its ambit and
added to this On 9 August 2019 the 1986 Act has been replaced by the Consumer Protection
Act, 2019.

The recent amendment to the Act has been broadened the scope of 1986 Act through the
inclusion e-commerce, Further it aims at protecting and strengthening the rights of the
consumers by establishing authorities, imposing strict liabilities and penalties on product
manufacturers, electronic service providers, misleading advertisers, and by providing
additional settlement of consumer disputes through mediation. There are structural changes in
the Consumer Courts in number of members, honorarium, and staff cadre. Procedural
changes are there like to give notice with different mode and on legal issues the changes are
made like giving review powers.

Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) :It is a Monitoring cell or regulatory

authority established under The Consumer Protection Act 2019. It is empowered to impose
penalties, recall goods, cause withdrawal of services, provide refunds and investigate into
matters. It shall also be responsible for protecting the rights of consumers as a class and shall
further ensure that no person engages in unfair trade practices and that no misleading
advertisements are made. The Act provides for establishing an investigation wing which shall
be headed by the director general who shall be appointed by the central government for
conducting investigations as per the order of the CCPA.
Further, the Act also introduced electronic mode for filing complaint for unfair trade practices
or false or misleading advertisements to the District Collector, the Commissioner of the
Regional Office or the CCPA. Monitoring Cell will work under National Consumer Disputes
Redressal and will supervise the consumer commission and state commission functioning. 

Some provisions of the Act:

Who is a complainant?

A complainant could be an individual or association or society or any group of consumers

having same interests even by the central government or any state government. In case of
death of a consumer his/her legal heir or representative can be the complainant.

Where to file complaint? Consumer Redressal Agency

Supreme Court (Special leave

to appeal)

National Commission
(more than ten crore)

State commission (Rs 1 -10

crore)

District forum (upto one

Crore)

How do you file a complaint? Or information required:-

o Original complaint copy along with two spare copies

o Photo copies of receipts/agreements/letter as evidence
o Your name, description and address
o Name, description and address of the opposite party
o Facts of the case
o The grounds of deficiency/defect/negligence against the opposite party
 o The documents if any in support of the allegations
o The relief which you are seeking
o The complaint is to be signed and accompanied by a affidavit

Reliefs available:-

o To remove the defect pointed out by the laboratory from the goods in question
o To replace the goods with new goods of similar description
o To return the price or charges to the complainant
o Compensation for the loss
o To discontinue unfair trade practices
o To withdraw hazardous goods from sale
o To stop misleading advertisement

Consumer rights under the act:

There are six core consumer rights that the Central, State and District Consumer Protection
Councils are charged with the objective of promoting and protecting the same:

1 The Consumers six Rights are as follows:

1. Rights to Protection/Safety:

The consumer must be aware of the knowledge of the product/goods including quality of the
goods whether they are good for health and free from hazard. It is the duty of the
manufacturer or trader to give you best goods. For instance, if you -brought Railway ticket,
the Railway department has to take care of you once you enter the platform. Similarly, as
soon as you enter Airport, it is the responsibility of the Airport authority or concern airlines,
if you are flying in the plane. Even hotels, restaurant are responsible for your safety and
Banks are also responsible for any fraud and your money should be safe in your account and
for any misuse of fraud or ATM and vice versa, transport authority is responsible for your
transport. You can always demand for your safety of goods and services.

2. Right to be informed:

Right to be informed to the consumer of the goods and services are the responsibility of
manufacturer’s, dealer’s and traders etc. In goods like food items they should inform, what is
the batch number, expiry date, packing date, ingredients used. Other than that what is the hall
mark, ISI mark, what is the period of warranty etc. In airports or Railway stations there will
be board displayed or inquiry counter will be there and the consumer will get all the
information about the arrival, delayed, cancellation or departure. In hospitals also there will
be board displayed about the Doctors on duty and there will be an inquiry counter for the help
of the patients. If information is not available, the consumer has a right to get the information
from the concern department, authority, institute and other places.
 3. Right to Choose:

The consumer has freedom to choose from a variety of products at competitive prices.

4. Right to be Heard:

The Consumer has a right to file a complaint and to be heard in case of dissatisfaction with a
good or a service. Many business firms have set up their own consumer service and grievance
cells and they are helping consumers in redressal of their grievances.

5. Right to seek redressal:

The Consumer has a right to get relief in case the product or service falls short of his
expectation or he is not satisfied. The reliefs can be in the form of replacement of the product,
removal of defect in the product, compensation, taking back the product, etc.

6. Right to Consumer Awareness:

The Consumer should be self aware about the goods and services he or she is buying. A
Consumer should take himself initiative to get the information about goods to be purchased.
The Consumer has a right to acquire knowledge and to be well informed consumer. The
consumer has a right to know the reliefs available to him in case of a product or services fall
short of his expectation. When they buy any good there is a pamphlet inside the goods or
information given on the goods, a consumer must read it before using the goods. Our
Constitution provides for Directive Principles of State policy where the Government provides
for the welfare of the people. In education level/courses the consumer protection rights/act is
taught in all the schools, degree courses etc. In institution level whether government or non-
government, workshop, education of the consumer protection act are there. The Government
has its department/Ministry of Consumer Affairs which is running lots of awareness
programme like Jago grahak jago in media and there is a toll free number for consumer
complaints too and in Centre for Consumer Research various courses and workshops are
there on consumers’ protection. The consumer is also responsible to be aware and go for
correct scheme and not to be cheated.

There is an introduction of “e-commerce” and “electronic service provider”. By including e-

commerce within its purview, the Act seeks to protect the rights of the e-consumers and also
enables them to proceed against the e-commerce websites in the event of any violation.

The Act has defined the term” misleading advertisement” in relation to any product or service
as, “an advertisement which falsely describes the product or service which gives a false
guarantee and is likely to mislead the consumer as to the nature substance, quantity or quality
of such product or service and conveys an express or implied representation which, if made
by the manufacturer or seller or service provider, would constitute an unfair trade practice
and shall also include information which is concealed deliberately”. The penalties for false
and misleading advertisements are also discussed under offences and penalties.
An appeal to an order passed by the CCPA on this issue can be filed under the National
Commission within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of such order.

7 Right to file a complaint from anywhere

The procedure in consumer courts has also been simplified. Complaints can now
be filed from anywhere in the country. Also, earlier complaints could only be filed
when a consumer buys a products. Now they can file a complaint if they see a
discrepancy, if they see something is wrong
8 Right to seek compensation under product liability
As per the 2019 Act, product liability means the responsibility of a product
manufacturer or product seller, or product service provider, to compensate for any
harm caused to a consumer by a defective product manufactured or sold or by
deficiency in services in relation to the product.

Conclusion

The Act has wider scope for the consumer protection and rights and is a welcome change in
favor of the consumers.The electronic filing of complaints and permission to attend the
hearing through video conference are vital steps in simplifying the process of complaints.
Mediation is very important step to resolve their grievances on a fast-track basis. Online
marketplaces and online auction sites, which have all throughout been included under the
purview of an “aggregator”, have also been included under the purview of this Act which will
place more responsibility on them with respect to the goods and services being sold and
provided by them. Further, the Act also seeks to hold the product manufacturers and service
providers and product sellers liable where the rights of the consumer have been violated due
to defects or deficiency in the goods and services provided. The provision for seeking
compensation for the loss or injury was only through the civil courts, which is now under the
purview of the Act. However, whether the new Act, 2019 is cost effective or not will be seen
when the new provisions will be implemented.

....................