COPRA, 1986

The COPRA (Consumer Protection Act), 1986,  has been enacted to provide for better protection of the interests of the consumers by making provisions for the establishment of Consumer Councils, other authorities for the settlement of consumer disputes and for matters connected therewith. 

This Act is considered as the Magna Carta in the field of Consumer protection for checking the unfair trade practices and defect in goods and deficiencies in services, as far as India is concerned. This act aimed at the process of consumer protection. On 24th December 1986, this act was enacted and brought into force in whole of India except the state of Jammu & Kashmir.

The main objectives that this special statute desired to achieve were as follows:

• To promote and protect the rights of consumers such as safety, choice, information, consumer education, redressal and representation.

• To establish consumer protection councils at the Central, State and District levels for enhancing the consumer protection mechanism.

• To create a special quasi-judicial mechanism at National, State and District level to provide speedy and simple redressal to consumer disputes.

• To empower these quasi-judicial bodies:

1.   To give relief of specific nature and to award whenever appropriate.

2.   Provide penalties for non-compliance of its orders.

The Act aimed in its scope to afford adequate protection and ensure effective access of justice for all consumers of India.

The Act recognises for the protection of six fundamental rights to every Indian consumer in Sec. 6 of the Act:-

Ø The Right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property.

Ø The Right to be informed about the quality, quantity, purity, standard and price of the goods or services so as to protect the consumers against the unfair trade practices.

Ø The Right to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices.

Ø The Right to be heard and to be assured that consumers' interests will receive due consideration at the appropriate forums.

Ø The Right to seek redressal against the unfair trade practices or the restrictive trade practices or the unscrupulous exploitation of consumers.

Ø The Right to provide consumer education.   

Various institutions were created by the COPRA, 1986 for implementing the Act:-

• Consumer Protection Councils,
• Consumer Dispute Redressal Agencies.

The Consumer Protection Councils are three tier machinery operational at the National level, State level and the District level.

        i. The Central Consumer Protection Council:-

The Central Consumer Protection Council shall consist of:

a)   A Minister in charge of the consumer affairs in the Central Govt., as its chairman.

b)  Such number of other officials or non-official members representing such interests as may be prescribed by the Central Govt.

        ii. The State Consumer Protection Council:-

The State Consumer Protection Council shall consist of:

a)   A Minister in charge of the consumer affairs in the State Govt., as its chairman.

b)  Such number of other officials or non-official members representing such interests as may be prescribed by the State Govt.

c)   Such number of other official or non-official members, not exceeding 10 members, as may be nominated by the Central Govt.

        iii. The District Consumer Protection Council:-

The District Consumer Protection Council shall consist of:

a)   The Collector of the District as its chairman.

b)  Such number of other officials or non-official members representing such interests as may be prescribed by the State Govt.

The major objectives of the Consumer Protection Council are as follows:

The main functions of the Consumer Protection Council are to provide the consumers:

Ø The Right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property.

Ø The Right to be informed about the quality, quantity, purity, standard and price of the goods or services so as to protect the consumers against the unfair trade practices.

Ø The Right to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices.

Ø The Right to be heard and to be assured that consumers' interests will receive due consideration at the appropriate forums.

Ø The Right to seek redressal against the unfair trade practices or the restrictive trade practices or the unscrupulous exploitation of consumers.

Ø The Right to provide consumer education.  

The Consumer Dispute Redressal Agencies:-

The consumer dispute is defined under the Section 2 (1) (e) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, which means-

‘a dispute where the person against whom a complaint has been made, denies or disputes the allegations contained in the complaint is called a consumer dispute.’

In India there is a three tier quasi judicial machinery, known as the Consumer Courts at the National level, State level and the District level. These are the different types of the Consumer Dispute Redressal Agencies.

The apex forum, that is the National Consumer Redressal Commission, functions in the capital state of India, New Delhi; then comes the State Consumer Redressal Commission, which functions at the state capitals, and finally at the lowermost level comes the District Consumer Redressal Forum, which functions at the district levels.

The main objective behind the establishment of the three tier specialised consumer dispute redressal forums at the District level, State level and the National level is to provide an expeditious and cost effective grievance redressal mechanism for the Indian consumers. The Act has introduced a very nominal amount of the court fee for filing a complaint before the Forums. The Supreme Court pointed out that the Consumer Protection Act has aimed at establishing dispute resolution forums at grass root level so that large body of the consumers of the country residing at the rural and the urban regions can access these forums easily and with little cost.

The Consumer Forums are established at the National level, the State level and the District levels.

• The District Consumer Forum:-

The District Consumer Forum represents the root of the dispute redressal mechanism. It is to be established by the State Govt. in each district of the state. Under Section 9 (a) of the Act-

‘A Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum to be known as the ‘District Forum’ shall be established by the State Govt. in each district of the State by notification.’

The Act further states that- ‘Provided that the State Govt. may, if it deems fit, establish more than one District Forum in a District.’

Composition:-

Every District Forum shall consist of a person who has been or is qualifies to be a District judge as its President and two non judicial members, one of whom shall be a women.

The members shall:-

·       Be not less than 35 years of age,

·       Possess a bachelor’s degree from any recognized university; and

·       Be a person of ability, integrity and standing, and have adequate knowledge and experience of at least 10 years in dealing with problems relating to economics, law, commerce, accountancy, industry, public affairs or administration.

A person shall not be qualified to become a member if:-

·       The person has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for an offence; which involves the moral turpitude.

·       The person is an undischarged insolvent.

·       The person is of unsound mind.

·       The person has been removed or dismissed from a Govt service.

·       The person has such other disqualifications as may be prescribed by the State Govt.

Jurisdiction:-

The District Forum enjoys the jurisdiction of hearing the cases in which the amount of claim value does not exceed 20 lakhs.

• State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission:-

The State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission is the 2nd tier of the Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission. Section 9 (b) of the Act, provides for the establishment of the State Commission and states that-

‘A consumer dispute redressal commission to be known as the State Commission shall be established by the State govt in the state by notification.’   

 It is ordinarily located in every state capital but the State Govt. can create circuit benches of the State Commission in such other places within the State as may be required.

Composition:-

Every State Commission shall consist of a President, who is or has been the Judge of the High Court, and not less than 2 and not more than such number of members, as the State govt considers necessary, and one of whom shall be a women.

The members shall:-

·       Be not less than 35 years of age,

·       Possess a bachelor’s degree from any recognized university; and

·       Be a person of ability, integrity and standing, and have adequate knowledge and experience of at least 10 years in dealing with problems relating to economics, law, commerce, accountancy, industry, public affairs or administration.

A person shall not be qualified to become a member if:-

·       The person has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for an offence; which involves the moral turpitude.

·       The person is an undischarged insolvent.

·       The person is of unsound mind.

·       The person has been removed or dismissed from a Govt service.

·       The person has such other disqualifications as may be prescribed by the State Govt.

Jurisdiction:-

 The State Commission enjoys the jurisdiction of hearing all the cases in which the amount of claim value is between 20 lakhs to 1 crore.

• National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission:-

The apex tier of the Consumer Dispute Redressal machinery established under the Act is the National Commission and the same is to be established by the Central Govt. Section 9 (c) of the Act provides for the establishment of the National Commission and states that-

‘A National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, to be known as the National Commission, shall be established by the Central Govt by notification.’

According to the Act and Rules of the Central Govt., the National Commission shall ordinarily function at New Delhi, but the Central Govt can create circuit benches of the National Commission in such other places as appears necessary to it.

Composition:-

The National Commission shall consist of a person who is or has been a Judge of the Supreme Court as its President, and there shall be not less than 4 other members and not more than 9 members, one of whom shall be a women appointed by the Central Govt.

The members shall:-

·       Be not less than 35 years of age,

·       Possess a bachelor’s degree from any recognized university; and

·       Be a person of ability, integrity and standing, and have adequate knowledge and experience of at least 10 years in dealing with problems relating to economics, law, commerce, accountancy, industry, public affairs or administration.

A person shall not be qualified to become a member if:-

·       The person has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for an offence; which involves the moral turpitude.

·       The person is an undischarged insolvent.

·       The person is of unsound mind.

·       The person has been removed or dismissed from a Govt service.

·       The person has such other disqualifications as may be prescribed by the State Govt.

Jurisdiction:-

It enjoys the jurisdiction of hearing the cases in which the amount of claim value exceeds 1 crore.  

Who is a Consumer?

Consumer as the term implies is one who consumes. He is the one who purchases goods for the private use or consumption. In short, the consumer is one who consumes goods or services at the end of the chain of production.

The Consumer Protection Act defines the word ‘consumer’ in Section 2 (1) (d) of the Act, as-

‘Consumer means any person who- 

a)   Buys any goods for a consideration which has been paid or promised to pay, but does not include a person who obtains such goods for resale or for any commercial purpose; or
 

b)  Hires or avails of any services for a consideration which has been paid or promised to pay, but does not include a person who avails of such services for any commercial purpose.’

What are Goods?

Goods are defined under Section 2 (i) of the Consumer Protection Act, as-

‘Goods mean goods as defined in the Sale of Goods Act, 1930.”

Section 2 (7) of the Sales of Goods Act, 1930, defines goods as-

‘Goods means every kind of movable property other than actionable claims and money; and includes stock and shares, growing crops, grass and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before the sale or under the contract of sale.’

Remedies:-

The Remedies provided under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 includes-

·       The removal of the defects, if after the proper testing the products proves to be defective.

·       The replacement of the defective goods by a new non defective product of the same type.

·       If the goods are defective and beyond repairs the authority can order for the refund of the price paid by the complainant for the product.

·       The products which can prove hazardous for life, their sale can be stopped.

·       In the end, there is a provision in this Act that the trader should pay adequate cost to the victim concerned.