Legal Reference Library

In a significant judgment Supreme Court in NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. VS. HINDUSTAN SAFETY GLASS WORKS LTD. held that provision of limitation in the Consumer Protection Act cannot be strictly construed to disadvantage a consumer. The Bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and PC Pant held that in a dispute concerning a consumer, it is necessary for the courts to take a pragmatic view of the rights of the consumer principally since it is the consumer who is placed at a disadvantage vis-à-vis the supplier of services or goods.

In Rajesh Kumar V. National Insurance Company Limited and Ors, revision petition has been filed before NCDRC against the impugned order passed by Haryana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Appeal No. 1192/2014, vide which, order passed by District Forum Kurukshetra, partly allowing complaint No. 24/2013, filed by present Petitioner, was set aside. State Commission held that there was fundamental breach of terms and conditions of policy on part of complainant, as vehicle was being used as a taxi. Perusal of reply filed by OP Insurance Company before District Forum and orders passed by State Commission as well as District Forum reveals that after alleged incident, an FIR was registered by father of the Complainant before the local police, in which it was stated that three persons came to Complainant, when he was standing at the taxi stand. He settled a fare of Rs. 700/- with them for taking them to Ambala Cantt. However, when they were on their way, occupants of the ca...

In Secretary/Manager, Mayyanad Regional Co-Operative Bank v. Ebrahimkutty, appeal has been filed against the impugned order passed by Kerala State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission vide which, Consumer Complaint No. C-05/13, filed by present Respondent, was allowed and Appellant/opposite party (OP) was directed to return the original sale deed number 1959/92 to complainant within one month, failing which to provide compensation of 10 lakh with interest @ 12% p.a. from the date of petition till realisation. In facts of case, complainant/respondent availed a loan from Appellant, by mortgaging his property. Complainant repaid his loan, but OP Bank did not return the original title deed. It has been stated that the Bank orally informed him in the year 1999 that the original deed was missing, and the OP Bank was on search to recover the same. Complainant stated that, property was valued at about Rs. 75 lakhs and due to lack of original document, complainant was unable to sell pro...

Clearing the way for homebuyers planning to file complaints against builders in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) through an association route, the Supreme Court on Tuesday has made it clear this is well within their rights and the focus should be on addressing their grievances. The decision also marks significance since it would remove multiplicity of cases for state and national consumer forums and allow homebuyers to directly approach the national commission by forming a registered association, saving their time and money. Dismissing multiple appeals filed by Amrapali Sapphire Developer challenging the right of a registered consumer association to file a complaint on behalf of multiple buyers of the same project, the apex court observed that it is the grievances of homebuyers that needs to be looked into, informed Sahil Sethi, senior associate at law firm Saikrishna & Associates, who represented the Amrapali Sapphire Flat Buyers Welfare Association...

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. V. ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd. 16.12.2016 Consumer Insurance coverage cannot be available for a vague or indefinite period Government of Andhra Pradesh awarded work of Investigation, Design and Execution of Tunnel -1 & Tunnel - 2, including Head Regulator at entrance of portal of Tunnel - 1 of Srisailam Left Bank Canal Tunnel Scheme of AMR project from NSRSP Reservoir, to Complainant Company. Case of Complainant is that project site and surrounding areas having been hit by heavy and incessant rains, it got completely sub-merged with water causing substantial damage to its property including Tunnel Boring Machines, (TBMs) which were under erection at that time on inlet of tunnel. Intimation of loss having been given to insurer, Cunningham Lindsey International Pvt. Ltd. were appointed as surveyors for assessing loss. Surveyors however informed Complainant that, existing CAR policy did n...

The Chhattisgarh High Court has held in Rajesh Kumar Agrawal vs Tulsi Electronic, & Others,  that the remedy available to the consumer under the Consumer Protection Act is an additional remedy. Other statutory remedy available to the consumer under other statutory laws would not bar the consumer to avail of that ‘additional’ remedy, it said. Justice Sanjay K Agrawal observed that district and state forums were wrong in rejecting the complaint on the ground of availability of alternative remedy under Section 7-B of the Telegraph Act. Rajesh Kumar Agrawal, had complained before the district forum alleging that his service provider adopted unfair trade practice in providing telecom services though he had paid for data service and while using the data services, balance lying in call account was deducted unauthorisedly. The district forum had relied upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in General Manager, Telecom, v. M Krishnan and another to hold that the petitioner has a s...

The apex consumer commission has directed a foreign airline to pay a compensation of Rs 20,000 to a customer and upgrade his economy class ticket to business class if he travelled in future, as a penalty for serving him non-vegetarian food instead of a Jain meal he had opted for. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) upheld the district forum's order also directing Swiss International Airlines, to pay Rs 10,000 towards litigation cost and dismissed the revision petition filed by Mumbai resident Amit Jay Kumar Jain to enhance the compensation.

While rendering relief to a woman who failed to procure back her gold ornaments from Muthoot Finance Pvt. Ltd., which were pledged while taking a loan, NCDRC directed the Finance Company to reimburse the woman with the current value of 52 grams gold pledged in 2003 with it. Earlier, in Year 2003, the complainant pledged 52 grams of gold for Rs 21,000 with the Paravoor branch of Muthoot Finance Pvt. Ltd. When she approached the concerned branch in April 2004 to take back the ornaments by paying the loan amount with interest, they refused, saying that the ornaments had been transferred to their head office by mistake. Thereafter, she left the town where she was then living and settled in Ernakulam. In May 2011, she approached the Finance Company again to redeem the ornaments pledged, but the said ornaments were not returned to her. Being aggrieved, she approached District Forum with a complaint. Before the Forum, Company contended that the complaint was barred by limitation...

Setting aside the orders of National and State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions which had held that a complainant land owner who entered into an agreement with a builder for construction and sharing flats, is not a ‘consumer’ since there was an intention to sell them and let them on rent and earn profit, the Supreme Court (BUNGA DANIEL BABU VS. M/S SRI VASUDEVA CONSTRUCTIONS) held that such an approach is erroneous. The District forum had allowed the complaint of the Land owner against the builder. On appeal by the Builder, the State Commission observed that the agreement was entered into by the complainant for more than two plots and there was an intention to sell them and let them on rent and earn profit, and the transaction was meant for a commercial purpose. The claims of land owner was dismissed on the grounds that he is not a ‘consumer’. This order of State Commission was affirmed by the National Commission. The complainant approached the Supreme Court. Apex Court Bench co...

While dismissing a revision petition filed by a multiplex in Jaipur challenging the orders of District Forum and Rajasthan Consumer Commission, vide which the multiplex was directed to return the amount charged more than maximum retail price of packaged drinking water to the Complainant along with Rs 6,500 as compensation, NCDRC also imposed further costs of Rs five lakh upon the multiplex. Earlier, the complainant went to see a movie in Big Cinemas in Jaipur where he purchased a bottle of water for which he was charged Rs 30 whereas the MRP of the bottle was Rs 16. Article referred: http://blog.scconline.com/post/2016/02/22/costs-of-five-lakh-imposed-upon-big-cinemas-and-reliance-media-works-ltd-for-charging-more-than-mrp-of-packaged-drinking-water/

While observing that the theft of a vehicle is required to be reported to the insurance company immediately after the theft is detected otherwise the insurer is not liable to reimburse the insured for such a loss, NCDRC upheld the repudiation of insurance claim by insurance companies in two separate cases of theft of vehicle. This order was pronounced by the Commission during the hearing of two revision petitions. Subject matter of both the petitions was similar i.e. theft of vehicle and repudiation of claim by insurance companies on the ground of delay in intimation of the theft to the insurance company. In one case complainant purchased a truck dumper and got the same insured with the Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd. for the period from 10.10.2010 to 09.10.2011. During the subsistence of the insurance policy, the vehicle was stolen between 06.6.2011 to 07.6.2011 and a report with the concerned police station was lodged on 07.6.2011 itself. The intimation to the insurance company h...

The state consumer disputes redressal commission has held that a builder or property developer cannot unilaterally terminate a registered agreement between him and the buyer of a flat. Dismissing an appeal by a Pune-based builder, a two-member bench of the commission, headed by S A Kulkarni, also held on June 12 that lopsided agreements favouring the builder more and going against the provisions of the Maharashtra Flat Ownership Act cannot be legally sustained. The matter is related to a community housing scheme developed at Dhanori along the Vishrantwandi Road by Sankalpa Constructions, a partnership firm headed by Prabhakar Bhosale and Vandana Bhosale. The company entered into the position of service provider by undertaking construction activity of small tenements for distribution among members of a particular community. It signed agreements with individual members of the scheme and registered the same.  One of the members, Haribhau J Ghode of Bhairavinagar, who filed a com...

The National Consumer Commission has dismissed the complaint of the Confederation of Exporters and Expo Mart Exhibitors alleging deficiency in service by India Exposition Mart Ltd which charged them external development charges over and above the price of space allotted to them. Exporters were allotted individual spaces in a complex in Greater Noida, in the National Capital Territory, to showpiece their wares. But they were aggrieved by the demand of extra payments and the extent of space allotted to them. The commission rejected their complaint holding that the exporters were not consumers according to the definition of the word in the Consumer Protection Act. According to the law, those who buy goods or avail of services for commercial purposes are not consumers. They cannot approach the consumer forums, but should seek other legal forums.

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC): While holding Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGI), Chandigarh guilty of medical negligence, NCDRC upheld the order of Chandigarh State Commission and also enhanced the total compensation from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh in case of death of a girl due to delay in treatment. The Commission was hearing an appeal filed by the parents of the deceased challenging the order of Chandigarh State Commission vide which the Institute was directed to pay Rs 7 lakh and Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) to pay Rs 3 lakh to them. The parents of the deceased approached NCDRC for enhancement of compensation awarded by the State Commission. PGI, Chandigarh had also filed appeal before Commission in the matter. The facts of the case are that a schoolgirl aged about 16 years, on her way from her school to residence was crushed by a CTU bus when she was attempting to board it in July 2012. She was admitted into Advance ...

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC): While declaring the repudiation of claim of a policyholder by the insurance company on the ground of non-disclosure of material facts as improper, NCDRC directed the insurance company to pay the insurance cover amount to the policyholder. A pilot of a private airline had approached NCDRC alleging that he was denied insurance claim on the ground that he did not disclose the fact that he was a known case of Hypertension and chronic kidney disease. Earlier, the complainant who was working for Jet Lite (India) Ltd. as pilot from 01.12.2007 had obtained a policy Ltd. of Rs.1.00 crore in April, 2009 from New India Assurance Co. and paid a sum of Rs.56, 200/- as premium. Later, in December, 2009, when the complainant was declared ‘permanently unfit’  for flying, he approached the insurance company for his policy claim but his claim was repudiated on the ground that he did not disclose the fact that he was a known case of Hypertensio...

1) Lucknow Development Authority vs. M. K. Gupta [1994 (1) SCC 243] 2) Friends Colony Development Committee vs. State of Orissa [2004 (8) SCC 733 3) New Horizons Ltd vs. Union of India [1995 (1) SCC 478) Faqir Chand Gulati vs Uppal Agencies Pvt. Ltd. & Anr on 10 July, 2008 A joint venture is frequently defined as an association of two or more persons formed to carry out a single business enterprise for profit. More specifically, it is in association of persons with intent, by way of contract, express or implied, to engage in and carry out a single business venture for joint profit, for which purpose such persons combine their property, money, effects, skill, and knowledge, without creating a partnership, a corporation or other business entity, pursuant to an agreement that there shall be a community of interest among the parties as to the purpose of the undertaking, and that each joint venturer must stand in the relation of principal, as well as agent, as to ...