Chapter: 2 The Machinery And Nature Of Proceedings Under The Consumer Protection Act, 1986

The Machinery And Nature Of Proceedings Under The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Objectives
Knowleclge of Machinerv and Nature of Proceedings under CPA is a~i¬antageous for the Consumer and to the Service Provider as well. The objective of this chapter is to apprise the reader about the essential aspects of the above. This chapter aims to address the queries relating to machinery and nature of proceedings under the Act.

Introduction
The Consumer Protection Act has been legislated to provide for better protection of consumers by providing exclusive machinery for redressal of consumers' grievances. MRTP Act, 1969 which dealt with Unfair, Restrictive and Monopolistic Trade Practices has since been replaced and the functions of MRTP Commission will be shared between the Consumer Forum and Competition Commission of India set up under The Competition Act, 2002 which is vet to be notified. The Consumer Protection Act provides inexpensive and efficient fora for redressal of individual grievances though consequent to 2002 amendment, S. 12 (2) of the Act read with S. 30 (1) has introduced the concept of 'fee'. Central Government mav prescribe the amount of fee and the manner of payment.

Further, the 'Act' provides for deposition of 50% of decretal amount or Rs 25,000/-, whichever is less, while filing an appeal before State Commission against a money decree of the District Forum. Similarly, in case an appeal is being preferred from the Order of State Commission to the National Commission, 50% of decretal amount or Rs. 35,000 (whichever is less) has to be paid. In case an appeal is proposed to be filed before the Supreme Court from the order of the National Commission, 50% of decretal amount of the Order of National Commission or Rs. 50,000 (whichever is less) will have to be deposited. Further, the Consumer Protection Act has oriented itself to the individual interest of each Consumer and provides a comprehensive mechanism for enforcement of the Order and Punishment of a defaulter for disobeying its order. Pursuant to 2002 amendment, S. 25 of the Act has been strengthened: a provision for enforcement of interim orders by attachment (and sale if required) and execution of the orders through District Collectors as arrears of land revenue has been introduced. Further, under S. 27A the amending Act has also introduced provision for filing an appeal from the order of Consumer Forum u.s 27 of the Act. In other words an appeal lies to State Commission, National Commission and Supreme Court from an order u.s 27 passed by an inferior Forum/ Commission.