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s the world’s second most populous country, India is home to a substantial portion of the world’s consumers. Consumers in India have enjoyed some form of consumer rights such as the right to be protected against adulterated, harmful and defective products for a long time. In the last 2 centuries, a large array of laws have been framed to safeguard the rights of consumers and to prevent sellers from exploiting uneducated, indifferent or uninformed consumers. The Indian Penal Code of 1860 encompasses a whole host of provisions to effectively combat crimes against consumers. It attaches a lot of importance to offenses related to the use of false weights and measures. 1
In addition, it also contains provisions for dealing with the sale of adulterated drugs, the sale of noxious drinks or food and the sale of adulterated food or drinks. The aforementioned provisions in the Indian Penal Code are indispensable for ensuring consumer safety as it has been said that “the functional value of criminal law in the field of consumer protection is a high one and it has a respectable pedigree.” 2 A striking feature of these provisions is that a consumer need not prove mens rea3 in order to take recourse to the remedies contained in these provisions. On the contrary, “the offenses are of strict liability, and not dependent on any particular intention or knowledge.” 4
For more than 5 decades, the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, was the principal legislation for protecting the rights of consumers in India. The sale of Goods Act which is often referred to as a “Consumer’s Charter” is viewed by legal thinkers as an admirable piece of legislation. 5
It includes many important provisions for facilitating smooth transactions between buyers and sellers.
This act laid down the well known Caveat emptor rule (let the buyer beware) which laid the foundation for the consumer movement in India. Section 16 of the Act enumerates the exceptions to the principle of caveat emptor in order to adequately safeguard the interests of consumers. It contains the test of “merchantable quality” which purports to serve as an efficacious remedy against sellers who engage in unscrupulous practices.
Moreover, the Essential Commodities Act of 1955, the Standard of Weights and Measures Act of 1976 and the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act of 1954 were also enacted in order to prevent undue exploitation of consumers..Even though consumers could take recourse to these laws, it was widely believed that these laws were inadequate to ensure consumer safety.
After the United Nations passed a resolution for consumer protection in April 1985, the clamour grew louder for introducing a specific law for the protection of Indian consumers. As a Result, the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, was enacted to create a framework for providing justice to consumers in a simple, expeditious and inexpensive manner.
The first and the only act of its kind in India, this law essentially makes the principle of caveat emptor a thing of the past. In fact, the underlying principle of this law is caveat venditor (let the seller beware).
This consumer-friendly act empowers the consumer to seek compensation for the injustice done to him while purchasing a good or availing of a service.The Supreme Court also held that the Act, being a beneficial legislation, should receive a liberal construction. 6
Consumer Law in India:
A Brief Overview
By Rahul Bajaj
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