Government
of
India
National
Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
New Delhi
,
the 31st May,
2005
.
NOTIFICATION
G.S.R.
342(E). - In exercise of the powers conferred
by section 30A of the Consumer Protection Act,
1986 (68 of 1986), the National Consumer
Disputes Redressal Commission with the
previous approval of the Central Government,
hereby makes the following regulations,
namely:-
1.
Short title and commencement.-(1
)
These regulations may be called the Consumer
Protection Regulations, 2005.
(2)
They shall come into force on the date of
their publication in the Official Gazette.
2.
Definitions.-
In these regulations unless the context
otherwise requires,-
(a)
"Act"
means the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (68 of
1986);
(b)
"Consumer
Forum" means a District Forum. a Consumer
Disputes Redressal
Commission established in a State under
clause (b) of section 9 (hereafter called the
State Commission) or the National Consumer
Disputes Redressal Commission;
(c)
"Registrar"
means the head of the ministerial
establishment of the Consumer Forum and
exercising such powers and functions as are
conferred upon him by the President of the
Consumer Forum:
(d)
"rules"
means the rules made under the Act;
(e)
"section"
means a section of the Act:
(f)
words
and expressions used in these regulations and
not defined herein but defined
either in the Act or in the rules shall
have the same meaning respectively assigned to
them either in the Act or in the rules, as the
case may be.
3.
Arrangements in Consumer Forum,--(1
) A Consumer Forum, being not a regular
court, shall have the arrangements as to
depict it distinct from a court.
(2) In the hall in which the Consumer
Forum shall hear the parties, the dais may not
be kept more than 30c.m. in height than the
place earmarked for the parties to occupy.
(3) At the dais of the hall, the
President and the members of the
Consumer Forum shall use the
same type of chairs at the same level and
these chairs need not have high backs.
4.
Dress code.-(1
) The President and members of every
Consumer Forum while presiding over the
Benches,-
(a)
shall wear
simple and sober dress;
(b)
shall not wear-
(i)
flashy dress or
dress display any affluence;
(ii)
Jeans or T-shirts.
(iii)
as if they are
holding Courts as Judges of a High Court or a
District Court.
(2) The advocates shall be allowed to
appear in the usual dress as prescribed by the
High
Court
but without the gown.
5. Hearing hours.-Subject
to the provisions of the rules, the normal
working hours of the
Consumer Forum for hearing
matters shall be from 10.30 am to 1.00 p.m
and 2.00 p.m to
4.00 p.m on all
working days of the Central Government in the
case of the National Commission and on all
working days of the State Government in the
case of the State Commission and the District
Forum
6. Cause List.-(1
) Cause list of the Consumer forum for
the following entire week shall be made ready
before the close of the working hours of the
preceding week and displayed on the notice
board. The cause list in respect of a Consumer
Forum having a website shall also be hosted on
the website.
(2) Cause list shall be split into
three different parts, namely:-
(i)
Admission and after notice matters;
(ii)
Matters where evidence is to be recorded;
(iii)
Final disposal matters.
(3)
Every cause list shall contain the following
particulars, namely:-
(1)
Sl. No.(2) No.of
the matter (3)
Names of the parties(4) Name of the party or
Counsel or
agent appearing
(4) If a date of hearing is given in
the presence of parties or their agents, it
shall not be a ground for non-appearance for
the reason that the cause list for the
concerned date does not show the matter or
contains incorrect entry or there is omission
of the particulars of the matter.
7. Institution of complaints, appeals
and revision petitions.-(1
) Where a complaint is filed in District Forum
or State Commission it shall be filed in three
sets and where it is filed in the National
Commission it shall be filed in four sets with
additional sets
equal to the number of opposite party(ies)/respondent(s).
(2) Every complaint shall clearly
contain particulars of dispute and the relief
claimed and shall also be accompanied by
copies of such documents as are necessary to
prove the claim made in the complaint.
8. Nomenclature to be given to the
complaints, appeals and revisions petitions. -(
1 ) A complaint shall hereinafter be referred
to as Consumer Complaint (C.C.) instead of O.P.,
e.g., C.C. No.2 of
2005.
(2) An appeal shall be referred to as
F.A.,
Revision Petition as R.P.,
Execution .Application as E.A, Transfer
Application T.A. and Review
as RA containing the number and the
year of filing.
9.
Scrutiny of complaint, appeal, petition and
revision petition.-(1
) Every complaint, appeal, or revision
petition shall after it is filed be numbered
by the Registrar.
(2) If there is any defect in the
filing of the complaint, appeal or revision
petition, the particulars of such defects
shall be recorded and the party or his agents
shall be informed of the defects asking them
for removing the defects within 15 days.
(3) In case the party disputes in the
correctness of the defects pointed out the
matter shall be placed before the Consumer
Forum for appropriate orders.
(4) After the expiry of the time given,
the matter shall, irrespective of the fact as
to whether the defects have been removed or
not, be placed before the Consumer Forum for
appropriate orders.
(5) If the objections raised by the
Registrar are substantial and are not removed
within the time allowed for the purpose, those
days shall not be excluded for counting the
period of limitation.
(6) As required by the second proviso
to sub-section (3) of section 12, the
admissibility of the complaint shall
ordinarily be decided within twenty-one days
from the date on which the complaint was
received.
(7) In case any defect is pointed out
by the Registrar, twenty-one days from the
date on
which such defect
was removed shall be reckoned for the purpose
of sub-regulation (5).
(8) All pending complaints, appeals and
revision petitions which have not come up for
admission till the date of commencement of
these regulations and are pending for
admission for more than 21 days shall be
listed immediately by the Consumer Forum for
admission and not later than 21 days from the
date of commencement of these regulations.
10. Issue of notice.-(1
) Whenever the Consumer Forum directs
the issuance of a notice in respect of a
complaint, appeal or revision petition, as the
case may be, to the opposite party(ies)/respondent(s),
ordinarily such notice shall be issued for a
period of 30 days and depending upon the
circumstances of each case even for less than
30 days.
(2) When there is a question of raising
presumption of service, 30 days notice shall
be required.
(3) Whenever notices are sought to be
effected by a courier service, it shall be
ascertained that the courier is of repute.
(4) While appointing the courier for
the purpose of effecting service, security
deposit may also be taken.
(5) Along with the notice, copies of
the complaint, memorandum of grounds of
appeal, petitions as the case may be and other
documents filed shall be served upon the
opposite
party(ies
)/respondent( s).
(6) After the opposite party or
respondent has put in appearance, no
application or document shall be received by
the Registrar unless it bears an endorsement
that a copy thereof has been served upon the
other side.
11. Adjournment.-(1
) Every proceeding before a Consumer
Forum shall be conducted as expeditiously as
possible and as per the requirements of the
Act.
(2) The Consumer Forum shall record the
reasons for any adjournment made by it.
(3) The cost of adjournment, if asked
by the opposite party or parties, shall not be
less than five hundred rupees per adjournment
and could be more depending upon the value and
nature of the complaint as may be decided by
the Consumer Forum.
(4). The
complainant, appellant or petitioner, as the
case may be, may also be burdened with cost
unless sufficient cause is shown for seeking
adjournment:
Provided that in the circumstances of a
particular case, the amount of cost imposed
may be less than five hundred rupees but in no
case less than one hundred rupees.
(5) The cost imposed may be given to
the other party or parties to defray his or
their expenses or be deposited in the Consumer
Legal Aid Account to be maintained by the
respective Consumer Forum, as the Consumer
Forum may order.
(6) If any adjournment is granted
without awarding cost, the order sheet shall
mention the reasons thereof.
(7) All orders adjourning the matter
shall be signed by the President and members
constituting the Bench and not by the Court
Master or Bench Clerk.
(8) Non-availability of a lawyer who is
representing the party shall not be a ground
for seeking adjournment of the matter unless
absence is beyond the control of the lawyer
such as his sudden illness or bereavement in
the family.
12. Hearing by Benches.-Where a
Bench, constituted by the President of the
State Commission or the National Commission as
provided under section 16 or section 20, as
the case may be, does not have a member with
judicial background and any complex question
of law arises and there is no precedent to
decide the law point, the Bench so constituted
may refer the matter to the President of the
State Commission or the National Commission as
the case may be to constitute another Bench of
which the President shall be a member.
13.
Arguments.-(1 )
Arguments should be as brief as possible and
to the point at issue.
(2) Where a party is represented by a
counsel, it shall be mandatory to file a brief
of
written arguments two days
before the matter is fixed for arguments.
(3) In case of default to file briefs,
the cost shall be imposed at the same rates as
laid down for grant of adjournments.
14.
Limitation.-(1 )
Subject to the provisions of sections 15, 19
and 24A, the period of limitation in the
following matters shall be as follows:-
(i)
Revision
Petition shall be filed within 90 days from
the date of the order or the date of receipt
of the order as the case may be;
(ii)
Application
for setting aside the ex-parte
order under section 22A or dismissal of
the complaint in default shall be maintainable
if filed within thirty days from the date of
the order or date of receipt of the order, as
the case may be;
(iii)
An
application for review under sub-section (2)
of section 22 shall be filed to the National
Commission within 30 days from the date of the
order or receipt of the order, as the case may
be;
(iv)
The period of
limitation for filing any application
for which no period of limitation has been
specified in the Act, the rules of these
regulations shall be thirty days from the date
of the cause of action or the date of
knowledge.
(2) Subject to the provisions of the
Act, the Consumer Forum may
condone the delay in filing an
application or a petition referred to in
sub-regulation (1) if valid and sufficient
reasons to its satisfaction are given.
15. Review.-(1
) It shall set out clearly the grounds
for review.
(2) Unless otherwise ordered by
the National Commission, an
application for review shall be disposed of by
circulation without oral arguments, as far as
practicable between the same members who had
delivered the order sought to be reviewed.
16. Appearance of Voluntary Consumer
Organisations.-(1)
Recognised
Consumer Organisations
have a right of
audience before the Consumer Forum
(2) An authorisation
of a Voluntary Consumer Organisation
may
be by way of special power of
attorney executed on a non-judicial paper or
even on plain paper duly attested by a Gazetted
Officer or a Notary Public.
(3) The Power of Attorney holder shall
be entitled to engage a counsel, if authorised
to do so.
(4) A Voluntary Consumer Organisation
can engage a counsel or an advocate of its
choice or it can itself represent through one
of its office bearers as per the rules
governing it.
(5)
In case of a complaint where the
Voluntary Consumer Organisation
is a complainant
along with the consumer himself
and the dispute
affects the
complainant individually, he can
withdraw the complaint:
Provided that if the issue involves
unfair trade practice or restrictive trade
practice a Voluntary Consumer Organisation
may continue to proceed with the complaint
even if the complainant wishes to withdraw the
same.
(6) A Consumer Forum has to guard
itself from touts and busybodies in the garb
of power of attorney holders or authorised
agents in the proceedings before it.
(7) While a Consumer Forum may permit
an authorised
agent to appear before it, but authorised
agent shall not be one who has used this as a
profession:
Provided
that this sub-regulation shall not apply in
case of advocates.
(8) An authorised
agent may be debarred from appearing before a
Consumer Forum if he is found guilty of
misconduct or any other malpractice at any
time.
17. Ex-parte
interim order.-Any ex-parte
interim order issued by the Consumer Forum
shall stand vacated after 45 days if in the
meanwhile the objections to the interim order
are not heard and disposed of.
18. Final order.-(1) An
order on the top right hand comer shall show
as to when the complaint was filed and the
date of the order.
(2) The cause title of the order shall
contain the names of all the parties with
their addresses.
(3) In the
body of the order it is desirable that after
mentioning the complainant or the opposite
party, their names as shown in the title be
mentioned and parties thereafter may not be
mentioned as complainant or opposite party
No.1 or opposite party
No.2, etc.
(4) The cause title shall also clearly
show if the appellant or respondent was the
complainant or opposite party.
(5) The order of a Consumer Forum
disposing of a matter shall be as short and
precise as practicable and unnecessary long
quotations from the judgments of the higher
courts or otherwise shall be avoided.
(6) When a copy of the order is sent to
a party, the mode by which it is sent and the
date on which it is sent shall be stamped on
the last page of the order.
(7) The Consumer Forum shall pass final
order invariably within fifteen days of the
conclusion of the arguments.
19. Return on institution and
disposal of cases.-( 1)
A Consumer Forum is expected to dispose of at
least 75 to 100 matters every month.
(2) A periodic monthly return of
institution and disposal of cases shall be
sent by the District Forums to the State
Commission.
(3) The State Commission shall submit a
periodic monthly return of institution and
disposal of cases to the National Commission.
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained
in this regulation, the President of the
National Commission may, at any time, call for
any return or information relating to its
functioning from a State Commission or
District Forums.
20. Preservation of records. -(
1 ) In the case of complaint, the record
containing main files with original order
sheet shall be preserved for a period five
years.
(2) In the case of records of first
appeal and revision petitions, it shall be
preserved for three years from the date of
disposal of the appeal or revision as the case
may be.
(3) Immediately after the consumer
complaint, first appeal or revision petition,
as the case may be, is disposed of, extra sets
shall be given to the parties who may use the
same for filing of appeal or revision petition
and in that case the necessity to summon the
record from the forums below can be dispensed
with.
(4) The Registrar shall inform the
parties while forwarding the certified copy of
the final order, where they do not appear in
person at the time of finally disposing of the
matter to arrange to collect the extra sets.
(5) A period of at least one month
shall be given for the purpose of collection
of records by the party and in case of default
the ex1ra sets shall be weeded out.
21. Certified copy.-(l) A
copy of the order is to be given to the
parties free of cost as required under the Act
and the rules made thereunder.
(2) In case a party requires an extra
copy, it shall be issued to him duly certified
by the Registry on a payment of Rs.20/-
irrespective of number of pages.
(3) A certified copy of an order shall
clearly specify the date when free copy was
issued, date of application, date when the
copy was made ready and the date when it was
so delivered to him.
(4) A fee of Rs.20/- shall be paid for
obtaining another certified copy.
(5) Any party desiring to get a
certified copy of any document on the file of
the Consumer Forum,
may get the same on payment of certification
fee of twenty rupees per copy. Provided that
if any such document of which certified copy
is sought, is over and above 5 pages, an extra
amount of one rupee per page shall be charged
over and above the fee of twenty rupees.
(6) Certified copy of any miscellaneous
order passed by the Consumer Forum shall be
supplied on payment of
Rs.5 per copy.
22.
Inspection of
records.-Parties or their
agents can inspect the records of any matter
by filing an application on payment of Ten
rupees as fee.
23. Filing of criminal complaint.-Wherever
a complaint is required to be filed by the
Consumer Forum under sub-section (5) of
section 13, the Consumer Forum may authorise
its Registrar to file the complaint.
24. Practice Directions.-
The National Commission shall be entitled to
issue practice directions from time to time as
may be necessary for the proper conduct of the
cases before Consumer Forum including
prescribing forms for complaints, notices,
returns, certificate to be issued to the
collector and the like.
25. Parcsha
Yad-dast.-
Where a party appears in person and is
illiterate, the Court Master or Bench Clerk
shall give to that party the next date of
hearing in writing.
26. Miscellaneous.-(1
) In all proceedings before the
Consumer Forum, endeavour
shall be made by the parties and their counsel
to avoid the use of provisions of Code of
Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908):
Provided that the provisions of the
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 may be applied
which have been referred to in the Act or in
the rules made thereunder.
(2) Every State Commission and every
District Forum shall take
steps for its computerisation
and networking.
(3) The
Consumer Forum shall give proper respect and
courtesy to the parties who appear in person
and shall provide separate accommodation in
the Hall for the convenience of the parties.
(4) The Consumer Forum shall not insist
upon the parties to engage advocates.
(5) The Fees collected for inspection
of the documents and supply of certified
copies shall be deposited in the account
maintained for the purpose of depositing fee
for filing a complaint as prescribed by the
Central Government by rules.
(6) The cases filed by or against the
senior citizens, physically challenged, widows
and persons suffering from serious ailments
shall be listed and disposed of on a priority
basis.
[
F.No.A-105/NCDRC/2005
]
(
B.V.
SHARMA )
Joint
Registrar
