In regulatory jurisdictions that provide for it (comprising most or all developed countries with

free market economies), consumer protection is a group of laws and organizations designed to
ensure the rights of consumers as well as fair trade, competition and accurate information in the
marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent the businesses that engage in fraud or specified
unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors. They may also provide additional
protection for those most vulnerable in society. Consumer protection laws are a form of
government regulation that aim to protect the rights of consumers. For example, a government
may require businesses to disclose detailed information about products—particularly in areas
where safety or public health is an issue, such as food.

Consumer protection is linked to the idea of consumer rights and to the formation of consumer
organizations, which help consumers make better choices in the marketplace and get help with
consumer complaints. Other organizations that promote consumer protection include
government organizations and self-regulating business organizations such as consumer
protection agencies and organizations, ombudsmen, the Federal Trade Commission in America
and Better Business Bureaus in America and Canada, etc.

A consumer is defined as someone who acquires goods or services for direct use or ownership
rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing.[1]

Consumer interests can also be protected by promoting competition in the markets which
directly and indirectly serve consumers, consistent with economic efficiency, but this topic is
treated in competition law. Consumer protection can also be asserted via non-government
organizations and individuals as consumer activism.

Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted in 1986 to
protect the interests of consumers in India. It makes provision for the establishment of consumer
councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumers' disputes and for matters
connected therewith also.

Contents

1 Significance of the statute

2 Consumer Protection Council

2.1 VARIOUS CONSUMER ORGANISATIONS

2.2 The Central Consumer Protection Council

3 Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies

4 Objectives

4.1 Objectives of Central Council

5 Jurisdiction

5.1 Jurisdiction of District Forum

5.2 Jurisdiction of State Commission

Consumer Protection Act, 1986

Consumer Protection Act, 1986

An Act to provide for better protection of the interests of consumers and for that purpose to
make provision for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for the
settlement of consumers' disputes and for matters connected there with.

Citation Act No. 68 of 1986

Enacted by Parliament of India

Date commenced 24 December 1986

Status: In force

Significance of the statute

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
appellate courts all over India. It has significantly impacted how businesses approach consumer
complaints and empowered consumers to a great extent.[1]

Consumer Protection Council[edit]

Consumer Protection Councils are established at the national, state and district level to increase
consumer awareness.[2]

VARIOUS CONSUMER ORGANISATIONS[edit]

To increase the awareness of consumer, there are many consumer organisations and NGOs that
established, such as- (1) Consumer Education And Research Centre (Ahmedabad) (2) Bureau Of
Indian Standard (3) Federation Of Consumer Organisation In Tamilnadu (4) Mumbai Grahak
Panchayet (5) Consumer Voice (New Delhi) (6) Legal Aid Society (Kolkata)

The Central Consumer Protection Council[edit]

The Central Govt. shall by notification establish with effect from (w.e.f) such date as it may
specify in such notification a Council to be known as the Central Consumer Protection Council

Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies[edit

District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (DCDRF): Also known as the "District Forum"
established by the State Government in each district of the State. The State Government may
establish more than one District Forum in a district. It is a district level court that deals with
cases valuing up to ₹2 million (US$29,000).[2]

State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC): Also known as the "State Commission"
established by the State Government in the State. It is a state level court that takes up cases
valuing less than ₹10 million (US$150,000)[2]

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC): Established by the Central

Government. It deals with matters of more than 10 million.

Objectives[edit]

Objectives of Central Council[edit]

The objectives of the Central Council is to promote and to protect the rights of the consumers
such as:-

The right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life
and property.

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;
The right to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods and services at
competitive prices ;

The right to be heard and to be assured that consumer's interest will receive due consideration
at appropriate forums;

The right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or restrictive trade practices or
unscrupulous exploitation of consumers; and

The right to consumer education.

Jurisdiction[edit]
Jurisdiction of District Forum[edit]

Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the District Forum shall have jurisdiction to entertain
complaints where the value of the goods or services and the compensation, if any, claimed does
not exceed rupees twenty lakhs.

A complaint shall be instituted in a District Forum within the local limits of whose jurisdiction:-

a) – the opposite party or each of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at the
time of the institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides or carries on business or
has a branch office or personally works for gain, or

b) – any of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at the time of the institution of
the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides, or carries on business or has a branch office, or
personally works for gain, provided that in such case either the permission of the District Forum
is given, or the opposite parties who do not reside, or carry on business or have a branch office,
or personally work for gain, as the case may be, acquiesce in such institution; or

c) – the cause of action, wholly or in part, arises.

Consumer courts do not have jurisdiction over matters where services or goods were bought for
a commercial purpose.[3]

Jurisdiction of State Commission[edit]

Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the State Commission shall have jurisdiction:-

a) – to entertain

i) – complaints where the value of the goods or services and compensation, if any, claimed
exceeds rupees twenty lakhs but does not exceed rupees one crore (R10 million); and

ii) – appeals against the orders of any District Forum within the State; and

b) – to call for the records and pass appropriate orders in any consumer dispute

(a) to entertain—
(i) complaints where the value of the goods or services and compensation, if any, claimed
exceeds rupees one crore; and
(ii) appeals against the orders of any State Commission; and

(b) to call for the records and pass appropriate orders in any consumer dispute which is pending
before or has been decided by any State Commission. However, the Supreme Court of India has
held that the jurisdiction of National Commission under Revision Jurisdiction is very limited and
can only be exercised when State Commission exceeds its jurisdiction, fails to exercise its
jurisdiction or there is material illegality in the order passed by State Commission.[4]

CONSUMER RIGHTS IN INDIA

The definition of Consumer right is ‘the right to have information about the quality, potency,
quantity, purity, price and standard of goods or services’, as it may be the case, but the consumer
is to be protected against any unfair practices of trade. It is very essential for the consumers to
know these rights.

However there are strong and clear laws in India to defend consumer rights, the actual plight of
consumers of India can be declared as completely dismal. Out of the various laws that have been
enforced to protect the consumer rights in India, 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. It is significant that, as consumer, one knows the basic rights as well
as about the courts and procedures that follow with the infringement of one’s rights.

In general, the consumer rights in India are listed below:

The right to be protected from all kind of hazardous goods and services

The right to be fully informed about the performance and quality of all goods and services

The right to free choice of goods and services

The right to be heard in all decision-making processes related to consumer interests

The right to seek redressal, whenever consumer rights have been infringed

The right to complete consumer education

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. In fact, the degree of consumer protection in any country is regarded as the right indicator
of the progress of the country.There is high level of phistication gained by the goods and services
providers in their marketing and selling practices and different types of promotional tasks viz.
advertising resulted in an increasing requirement for more consumer areness and protection.
The government of India has realized the condition of Indian consumers therefore the Ministry
of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution 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. If there is
infringement of rights of consumer then a complaint can be made under the following
circumstances and reported to the close by designated

consumer court:

The goods or services purchased by a person or agreed to be purchased by a person has one or
more defects or deficiencies in any respect

A trader or a service provider resort to unfair or restrictive practices of trade

A trader or a service provider if charges a price more than the price displayed on the goods or
the price that was agreed upon between the parties or the price that was stipulated under any
law that exist

Goods or services that bring a hazard to the safety or life of a person offered for sale,
unknowingly or knowingly, that cause injury to health, safety or life.

RIGHT TO SAFETY

According to the Consumer Protection Act 1986, the consumer right is referred to as ‘right to be
protected against marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property’. It is
applicable to specific areas like healthcare, pharmaceuticals and food processing, this right is
spread across the domain having a serious effect on the health of the consumersortheir well
being viz. Automobiles, Housing, Domestic Appliances, Travel etc. When there is violation of the
right then there occur medical malpractice lawsuits in the country. It is estimated every year that
thousands or millions of citizens of India are killed or seriously injured by immoral practices by
doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and the automobile industry. Still the government of India, known
for its callousness, does not succeed in acknowledging this fact or making a feeble effort for
maintaining statistics of the mishaps.The Government of India needs to have world class product
testing facilities to test drugs, food, cars or any other consumable product that can prove to be a
menace to life. It does not happen coincidently that Tata Nano is sold in India for half of what it
costs in a country which is industrially developed,this is a classic case of requirement of a cheap
product that outweighs the need for safety of family and self. The developed countries like the
United States have stalwart agencies which oversee the protection of consumer products, the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for food and drugs, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) for automobiles and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
for various other consumer products etc. This right needs each product which can potentially be
a danger to our lives to be marketed after adequate and complete verification as well as
validation. India is 50 years away, for empowering this right adequately and completely.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION

The right to information is defined as ‘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’ in the Consumer Protection Act of 1986. In the market
place of India, consumers get information by two ways namely advertising and word of mouth
however these sources are considered to be unreliable but still this word of mouth is quite
common here.Because of this, the Indian consumers hardly have precise and complete
information for assessing the true value, safety, suitability, reliability of any product. Usually the
hidden costs can be found, lack of suitability, quality problems and safety hazards only after the
purchase of the product. There is another right claimed by Indian government on paper, this
right must ideally make sure that all consumable products have been labeled in a standard
manner containing the cost, quantity, the ingredients and instructions given to use the product
safely. It is unfortunate that even the medicines in the country do not follow a standardized
labeling convention. There should be establishment of unit price publishing standards for
consumer market where costs are revealed in standard units like per kg or per liter. The
consumers, ought to be informed in an exact yet accurate manner for the cost involved during
time of availing a loan. For providing benefit to the society through this right, advertisers must
be held against the andards of products in the advertisements. The pharmaceuticals require
todisclose potential side effects related to their drugs and manufacturers ought to be required to
publish reports from independent product testing laboratories for the purpose of comparing the
quality of their products from competitive products.

There is a website: Consumerdaddy.com, for the purpose of empowering the consumers

withright to information. Without help of these types of websites it is difficult to spread
awareness among the consumers of India. The right to information gives the power to the
consumers to have an easy access to information which is necessary for the consumer.

RIGHT TO CHOOSE

The definition of Right to Choose as per the Consumer Protection Act 1986 is ‘the right to be
assured, wherever possible, to have access to a variety of goods and services at competitive
prices’. For regulating the market place, there is just one factor required and that is
competition.The existence of cartels, oligopolies and monopolies prove to be counterproductive
to consumerism. The natural resources, liquor industry, telecommunications, airlines etc all are
being controlled by a mafia to some or the other extent.Since the Indian consumers come from a
socialistic background, the tolerating of monopolistic market is found in their blood. It is seldom
seen that people want to switch the power company, in the times when they have a blackout at
home.It is interesting to know that even micro markets like fish vendors in some cities are known
to collude and discourage the consumers’ bargaining power.No matter what size or form, or
span, but collusion of various companies which sell a similar kind of product is unethical or say
less legal. It can be estimated that India has to stride for about 20 more years for empowering its
citizens fully in this regard.

RIGHT TO BE HEARD

As stated in the Consumer Protection Act 1986, ‘the right to be heard and to be assured that
consumer’s interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums’ is the definition of
the right to be heard. This right helps to empower the consumers of India for putting forward
their complaints and concerns fearlessly and raising their voice against products or even
companies and ensure that their issues are taken into consideration as well as handled
expeditiously. However, till date the Indian Government has not formed even one outlet for
hearing the consumers or their issues to be sorted out.There are a number of websites striving
to do this. The major objective of Consumer is to ensure that their voices are heard by the
corporate world. There is a website, Consumerdaddy.com, where consumers can upload their
criticisms as well as file complaints. Every criticism filed gradually lessens the overall score of the
product which is being criticized therefore each complaint is independently checked by an
investigator who belonged to Consumerdaddy.com website. This website provides the
consumers the benefit of doubt always, so their voice is considered over that of the company. It
is believed at consumerdaddy.com, that consumer is always right, and that he is the king. In case
a consumer makes an allegation regarding the product, the onus goes to the dealer, orsupplying
company or manufacturer to disprove that allegation is not true.To be precise, the consumer is
heard, and the load of proof goes to the company. Various attempts are made by the
government for empowering the citizens with this right, and it is believed that about 10-15 years
more are required for the accomplishment of this goal.

RIGHT TO REDRESSAL

The right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or restrictive trade practices or
unscrupulous exploitation of consumers’ is referred to as the right to redressal according to the
Consumer Protection Act 1986.
The government of India has been bit more successful with regard to this right. The Consumer
courts like District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forums at district level, State Consumer
Disputes Redressal Commissions and National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions have
been incorporated with the help of the consumer protection act. These consumer grievance
redressal agencies have fiduciary as well as geographical jurisdictions which address consumer
cases between businesses and consumers.About 20 lakhs Consumer cases are heard in the
district consumer forum, and around one crore can be heard in the state consumer court while
more than one crore cases are heard at national consumer court. It has been found that if one
becomes guardian of consumer protection or consumer rights in the country these courts today
are found to be ineffective because of bureaucratic sabotages, clogged cases, callousness of
government and decadent infrastructure. Only some of the district forums have appointed
officials for time being and majority of them are non-functional because of funding and
infrastructure constraints. There are around 20-30 million open cases in India which remain
unsolved and would take around 320 years to wind up. Having such type of compromised legal
system the consumer cases form just civil litigations and are carried forward to the bottom of the
priority list. It is estimated that India is 10 years away in effectively ensuring the right to redressal
to every consumer of India.

RIGHT TO CONSUMER EDUCATION

The right of every Indian citizen to have education on matters regarding consumer protection as
well as about her/his right is regarded as the last right provided by the Consumer Protection Act
1986. The right makes sure that the consumers in the country have informational programs and
materials which are easily accessible and would enable them to make purchasing decisions
which are better than before. Consumer education might refer to formal education through
college and school curriculums as well as consumer awareness campaigns being run by non-
governmental and governmental agencies both. Consumer NGOs, having little endorsement
from the government of India, basically undertake the task of ensuring the consumer right
throughout the country. India is found to be 20 years away from giving this right that gives
power to the common consumer.