Revised Pecuniary Jurisdiction For Entertaining Consumer Complaints : PIB DELHI

The Consumer Protection Act of 2019 establishes a hierarchical quasi-judicial system for resolving consumer disputes, comprising district commissions, state commissions, and the national commission. It also specifies the monetary limits for each tier's jurisdiction. According to the current provisions, District Commissions handle complaints where the value of goods or services is up to one crore rupees, State Commissions handle complaints valued between one crore and ten crore rupees, and the National Commission handles complaints exceeding ten crore rupees. However, since the implementation of the Act, it has been noted that these jurisdictional provisions have resulted in cases that could have been filed at the National Commission level now being filed at the State Commission level, and cases that could have been filed at the State Commission level now being filed at the District Commission level. This has significantly increased the workload of District Commissions, leading to a backlog and delays in case resolution, which goes against the Act's goal of providing speedy redressal to consumers.

Following the enactment of the Act, it became evident that the existing provisions governing the pecuniary jurisdiction of consumer commissions were causing a shift in cases, with some that were previously within the purview of the National Commission now being filed at the State Commission level, and similarly, cases that were previously handled by State Commissions now being directed to District Commissions. This shift led to a notable increase in the workload of District Commissions, resulting in a backlog and delays in case resolution, thereby undermining the Act's objective of ensuring prompt redressal for consumers.

With regard to revision of pecuniary jurisdiction, Central Government held wide consultation with States/UTs, consumer organizations, law chairs etc. and examined the issues that had created long pendency of cases in detail.

With the issuance of the aforementioned rules, the revised pecuniary jurisdiction, subject to other provisions of the Act, is outlined as follows:

• 1. District Commissions shall have jurisdiction over complaints where the value of goods or services paid does not exceed 50 lakh rupees.
• 2. State Commissions shall have jurisdiction over complaints where the value of goods or services paid exceeds 50 lakh rupees but does not surpass 2 crore rupees.
• 3. The National Commission shall have jurisdiction over complaints where the value of goods or services paid exceeds 2 crore rupees.

It's worth noting that the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 mandates that every complaint should be resolved as swiftly as possible, with efforts made to decide complaints within 3 months from the date of notice receipt by the opposing party for cases not requiring analysis or testing of goods, and within 5 months if such analysis or testing is necessary.

The Act also provides consumers the option of filing complaint electronically. To facilitate consumers in filing their complaint online, the Central Government has set up the E-Daakhil Portal, which provides a hassle-free, speedy and inexpensive facility to consumers around the country to conveniently approach the relevant consumer forum, dispensing the need to travel and be physically present to file their grievance. E-Daakhil has many features like e-Notice, case document download link & VC hearing link, filing written response by opposite party, filing rejoinder by complainant and alerts via SMS/Email. Presently, facility of E-Daakhil is available in 544 consumer commissions, which includes the National Commission and consumer commissions in 21 states and 3 UTs. So far, more than 10,000 cases have been filed using the E-Daakhil Portal and more than 43000 users have registered on the portal.

To provide a faster and amicable mode of settling consumer disputes, the Act also includes reference of consumer disputes to Mediation, with the consent of both parties. This will not only save time and money of the parties involved in litigating the dispute, but will also aid in reducing overall pendency of cases.

(AI Generated)Note: This post/article is based on PIB Release ID: 1786342, For latest please check on PIB website or Consumer Commission official website.