By JUSTICE D.P. WADHWA & N.L. RAJAH

There is a need to develop separate consumer jurisprudence, different from existing civil jurisprudence. It is possible only when the courts adopt fresh and unconventional approach while interpreting the provisions of law providing consumer justice. Justice Shah, President, NCDRC, has said that proceedings in a Consumer Forum are not of adversarial nature. For breach of certain obligations, there has to be consumer factor or consumer surplus, as one may like to call, to which a consumer should be entitled. Today it is possible for a person sitting in a remote part of India to order a product from off the shelf of an establishment in America and have it delivered at his doorstep in a week. To such a transaction what rules of product liability apply? Where will an aggrieved consumer seek relief? How will it be enforced? What is the role of regulatory authorities in all this? Whether globalisation is pure manna from heaven or a fiendish attempt to exploit developing countries will be debated for a long time. The reality however is that it is happening all around us and we need to reinforce and strengthen our systems to meet the several challenges it will throw up. This is a time when our legal systems and principles on which we have operated for decades will be put to test and we are sure even our first principles of law on consumer issues will have to be seriously questioned. While the possibility of consumer exploitation has greatly increased with more and more consumer durables being put in the market, this has neither resulted in enactment of more laws to protect consumer interest, nor has the promise of level playing field between competitors materialised. The Competition Commission is yet to become operational. The MRTP Commission with a single Bench at New Delhi was hardly user-friendly and in any case after the establishment of the Competition Commission will have little utility. Given such a scenario the most effective fora to protect consumer interests are the Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies created under the Consumer Protection Act 1986. All efforts must therefore be expended to strengthen these agencies.

This book is intended to serve as a useful reference tool to all those who seek to operate the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 1986. It seeks to present the law as it stands and makes copious reference to almost all decisions of the Supreme Court and National Commission on various vital aspects of the law. I have also referred to few judgments of various State Commissions, which usually are on points not decided by the Supreme Court or National Commission. The genesis of enactment of the Consumer Protection Act was a resolution passed by the United Nations in April 1985 indicating certain guidelines under which Governments could make law for better protection of consumer interests. Following this the Indian Parliament enacted the Consumer Protection Act 1986 which came into force on 15.04.1987. The Act has been subjected to three amendments i.e., Amendment Act 34 of 1991, Amendment Act 50 of 1993 and Amendment Act 62 of 2002.

Published Year: 2006 Format: Hard Back ISBN: INCP2 Publisher: Lexis Nexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur No of Pages: 1950 Our Price: India. Rs. 1,395.00 Reviews: 0 reivew(s).

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