Consumer Grievance Redressal Under the Consumer Protection Act

This book analyses the mechanism of grievance redressal of consumers provided under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, and seeks to evaluate the approach of the consumer courts in providing relief against the supply of defective goods, provision of deficient services, indulging in unfair trade practices, charging of prices in excess of the specified prices, and offering of hazardous goods for sale. The relevant legal provisions are presented in a simple and lucid manner. The book provides a simple, up-to-date, concise and yet complete treatment of this important piece of socio-economic legislation, which concerns not only consumers but also business organisations supplying goods and providing services, public utilities, like electricity, telephone and transport, professionals, educational institutions and hospitals. About 500 cases decided by various consumer courts (District Forum, State Commission, and the National Commission) and the Supreme Court of India are analysed in order to identify the kind and extent of relief provided, time taken in disposal of cases, nature and pattern of complaints, and the types of products and services involved in the complaints. The law stated in the book is as it existed on July 1, 2002. The provisions of the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2002 which was passed by the Rajya Sabha in March 2002 and is expected to be passed by the Lok Sabha with or without modifications later this year, are appraised in a separate chapter. The cases and data included in the book are the latest available, some of them as late as April 2002. Thus, the book would be of interest to almost everyone.