A consumer has to contact the Filing Department of the concerned Forum/Commission. The filing departments usually appoint a person for replying to the queries of the complainant. The complainant has to submit 3 xerox copies of all relevant documents along with the original document. In addition, one Xerox copy for each opposite party has to be submitted. The complaint along with the affidavit needs to be notarised by a notary officer.
A court fee has to be paid under all circumstances. There is only one exception to this rule i.e. if the complainant is living below the poverty line and holds an Antyodaya Anna Yojana card.
The filing department can refuse to admit the complaint in case of technical errors, missing documents, absence of notarization or if the case falls beyond its jurisdiction.
There are two kinds of evidence that a complainant must present:
• Primary evidence: includes all the main documents.
• Secondary evidence: includes certified copies or copies made through mechanical process or that are made from or compared with the original. It also includes oral accounts of a document by some person who has seen it himself.
The complainant need not appoint a lawyer to represent him in a Consumer Court. He can represent himself if he so chooses.
After the completion of all the aforementioned formalities, the complaint is admitted by the filing department. This normally takes around 15 days.
Although the Consumer Protection Act states that in the case of deficiency in service, the decision has to be given within 90 days and in the case of goods which require testing, the judgment has to be given within 150 days, in reality, this rule is rarely followed. The time period may vary from a few months to a few years.
It is dismaying to note that there are scores of traders in India who still blatantly refuse to take responsibility for the appalling quality of their goods and are unwilling to refund the cost of the goods or to replace defective products.
As a result, the Planning Commission of India identified “Consumer Awareness, Redressal, and Enforcement of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986” as an important priority in 2003, and a national action plan was subsequently prepared.
Owing to the cost-effective and user-friendly framework that the Consumer Protection Act has created in India for resolving disputes, consumers are no longer afraid of waging legal battles against service providers or traders who engage in unscrupulous malpractices.
This Act has instilled confidence among millions of consumers in India and has made it possible for consumers to assert their rights like never before.
1 Indian Penal Code, No. 45 of 1860, ch. 13 §§ 264-67.
2 Gordon Borrie, The Development of Consumer Law
and Policy: Bold Spirits and Timorous Souls 3 (1984).
3 Requiring a mental element to commit offense
4 D.N. Saraf, Law of Consumer Protection in India 169 (1990).
5 Gordon Borrie & Aubrey L. Diamond, The Consumer, Society and the Law 65 (1964).
6 M/s. Spring Meadows Hospital and Another v. Harjol Ahluwalia and Another, AIR 1998 SC 1801,
7 http://ncdrc.nic.in/
SOURCES
Conclusion
Procedure of Filing a Complaint:
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