CONSUMER

PROTECTION
ACT, 1986

SUBMITTED BY
K.POTHANNA SETTI

16331E0046
SECTION A
FIRST SEMESTER

B U S I N E S S E N V I R O N M E N T A N D L AW

D E PA RT M E N T O F M A N A G E M E N T S T U D I E S
MVGR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

INDEX
INTRODUCTION
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
CONSUMER RIGHTS
LEGISLATIVE MEASURES ON CONSUMER PROTECTION
CONSUMER GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL
MACHINERY FOR REDRESSAL OF CONSUMER GRIEVANCES
CASE STUDY
TOTAL NUMBER OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED
REFERENCE

INTRODUCTION
Till lately , consumers ,particularly in India , was neglected lot . the dominance and
obstinacy of producer ,trader or businessman was felt like a doctor piercing an
injection in the body . tolerance has limit .
Consumer movements spearheaded the attacks and slowly but surely the lobby grew
stronger and stronger day by day . awareness in a consumer , that his rights were
being sabotaged , grew from day to day.
He realised that though on paper he was a king , nevertheless he remained a slave.
The psychology under which the consumer in India had treaded for decades that he
had no choice needed to be penetrated with an effective dose of making him feel
like a king and not merely think like a king . therefore the consumer protection
act 1986 was enacted.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
The main objectives of the consumer protection programme are: To create suitable administrative and legal mechanisms which would be within the
easy reach of consumers and to interact with both Government and nongovernmental
Organizations to promote and protect the welfare of the consumers.
To involve and motivate various sections of society including consumer
organizations, women and youth to participate in the programme.
To generate awareness among consumers about their rights and responsibilities,
motivate them to assert their rights so not to compromise on the quality and standards
of goods and services and to seek redressal of their disputes in consumer fora, if
required.
To educate the consumers as to be aware of their rights & social responsibilities.

CONSUMER RIGHTS
Consumer protection Act, 1986 has provided six rights to the consumer, which
are as follows: Right to Safety : Consumer has the right to be protected against products, &
services which are hazardous to health & life (should use ISI marked electric
products)
Right to be informed : Consumer has right to have complete information about
the product before buying it.

Right to choose : Consumer has a right to choose any product out of the
available products as per his own decision/liking.

CONSUMER RIGHTS
Consumer protection Act, 1986 has provided six rights to the consumer, which
are as follows: Right to be heard : Consumer has the right to file a complaint & to be heard in
case of dissatisfaction with goods or services (use of grievance cell)
Right to Seek Redressal : Consumer has the right to get relief in case the
product or service falls short of his expectations or is dangerous. He may be
provided with replacement / removal of defect / compensation for any loss.

Right to consumer education : Consumer has right to acquire knowledge & to

be well informed consumer throughout life. It make consumer aware all the time.

LEGISLATIVE MEASURES ON
CONSUMER PROTECTION
It applies to all goods and services.
It covers all sectors, whether private, public or any person.
The Act provides for relief of a specific nature and also for compensation to the
consumer as appropriate.
The Act also provides for setting up of Consumer Protection Councils at the
Central, State and District levels, which are advisory bodies to promote and
protect the rights of the consumers.
The provisions of the Act are in addition to and not in derogation of the
provisions of any other law for the time being in force.

CONSUMER GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL

To return the complainant the price.

To pay compensation to the consumer for any loss or injury suffered.
To remove the defects in the goods.
To discontinue the unfair trade practices.
Not to offer hazardous goods for sale.
To provide adequate costs to parties.

MACHINERY FOR REDRESSAL OF

CONSUMER GRIEVANCES
Central Consumer Protection Council: The Minister in charge of the consumer
affairs in the Central Government, who shall be its Chairman, and such number of
other official or non-official members representing such interests as may be
prescribed.

State Consumer Protection Council: the Minister in charge of consumer affairs in

the State Government who shall be its Chairman, Such number of other official or
non-official members representing such interests as may be prescribed by the State
Government. Such number of other official or non-official members, not exceeding
ten, as may be nominated by the Central Government.

MACHINERY FOR REDRESSAL OF

CONSUMER GRIEVANCES
District Consumer Protection Council: The Collector of the district (by whatever
name called), who shall be its Chairman, such number of other official and nonofficial members representing such interests as may be prescribed by the State

Government.

CASE STUDY
Consumer forum fines ICICI bank for wrongful delivery of ATM:ICICI bank has been directed by a
consumer forum to pay Rs 20,000 as compensation to one of its consumers whose ATM card was
delivered to a wrong hand, who withdrew money from the account fraudulently without any information
to the user. The ATM card landed at a wrong address and was used for withdrawing over Rs 48,000 from
the savings account of a person, who was waiting for the same to be delivered at his address.
A District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (Central) gave its ruling in the favour of account holder
Datta Ram, saying that the act of the private bank caused "mental agony and harassment" to him for its
failure to return the money to his account in spite of information that it was not withdrawn by him using
the ATM card .The consumer forum also held that non-delivery of ATM card and withdrawal of money
from the account of the customer by somebody else amounts to "deficiency of service" by the bank. The
demand of Rs 48,900 from the complainant and then the act of the bank to withdraw that amount from
his saving account amounts to deficiency in service," B.B Chaudhary, President of the Central Delhi
consumer forum, said in the order. On account of the act of the bank, the complainant had to send legal
notice and suffered harassment, pain and mental agony," the panel said while also awarding him Rs
5,000 towards litigation charges.

CASE STUDY
The complainant had said that on November 15, 2008 he received SMS alert that Rs
48,900 was withdrawn from his savings account through his ATM card and he had
immediately informed the bank that he never received the card and thus he could
not have done the transaction.

TOTAL NUMBER OF CONSUMER

COMPLAINTS FILED

REFERENCE
Reference:
Note No.1/RN/Ref.2013, Lok Sabha secretariat parliament library and reference
research documentation and information service,
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Department of
Consumer Affairs, Public Queries.
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Statistics Report.
National institute of open school, download.nos.org/srsec319new/319EL24.pdf