Important Laws of Consumer Protection

Important Laws of Consumer Protection:

MIES R M Law College is one of the Top private law colleges of West Bengal, situated at Sonarpur, South Kolkata. Introduce a write-up on the Important Laws of Consumer Protection. It is a very informative article written by Mr. Ritwik Mukherjee of this Topmost law college. MIES R M Law College is one of the Top private law colleges of West Bengal.

The Consumer Protection Laws in India received a significant boost after the introduction of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986. The COPRA, 1986 as a result of intense bargaining for the right of consumers all over the world. In this article, the author will discuss important concepts. And moreover, the right granted to consumers under consumer protection laws in India. Especially in the light of changes introduced in the Consumer Protection Act of 2019.

Who are the consumers

Now before we move on the question of what are the rights granted to a consumer. It is very important to understand who is a consumer in the first place. For this, we analyze the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Under section 2(7) of the act. The consumer is defined as the person who buys any goods or avails services for any consideration.

The said section does not include any person who is involved in buying goods or availing of services. For any commercial purpose as defined under the said section. This section also includes those who have not paid for a product. But nevertheless use it with the permission of the buyer or person who has paid for the service.

 Now that we have understood the who the act is aims to protect i.e. the consumer, we now move on to the rights granted to the consumer. According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs a consumer has the following rights:

• The Right to Safety
• Right to be Informed
• Right to Choose
• Consumer Education Rights
• Right to Seek Redressal
• ‘Right to Be Heard

These rights are also enumerated in the Consumer Protection Act. The author will now discuss these rights in detail.

Right to Safety:

The right to safety means the right of a consumer to be protected from those goods and services which are not safe for the consumer. This includes marketing of the said hazardous goods and services. This right ensures that the consumers do not suffer due to casual and lackadaisical attitude of those selling or manufacturing the goods.Top of Form

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Right to be Informed:

Every consumer in order to make a choice that is the most beneficial one for him needs to know about the product. Therefore, this right ensures that the any information is made accessible to consumers about the product or service as regard to its quality. Moreover, about its price, the purity, quantity and other things relevant for the consumer to make the right choice. This is to protect the consumer from being duped or tricked into faulty trade practices.Top of Form

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Right to Choose:

The right to chose is an important right. This right was originally meant to promote an effective choice for the consumers. The way it was ensured was that there were no cartels or monopolies that would stymie the growth of a competitive consumer-based industry. And thus protect the interests of the consumers. The anti-predatory pricing is one example of where law tries to protect. In some cases, the smaller companies from larger companies and thereby prevent the creation of monopolies.

Consumer Education Rights:

Often, the lack of proper enforcement of consumer rights is not the absence of enough legislations. Instead, the reason is that of lack of awareness and ignorance. This right try to overcome this lacuna and make the consumer protection movement a more public led and public-spirited movement. Non-governmental organizations are the forerunner in achieving this aim along with voluntary consumer organizations.

Right to Be Heard& Right to Seek Redressal:

These two rights have the same purpose, the means for a consumer to air his grievance and get redressal. The consumer protection act mandates the creation of a consumer dispute redressal commission at the national, state, and district levels. These commissions have their powers defined in the consumer protection act. And can award compensation or relief to those consumers whose rights have been violated.

Apart from these rights, there have been some landmark judgments. Afterall, which have expanded upon the rights of the consumer and have given the whole movement a renewed momentum.

Case Study 1

In the case of Spring Meadows Hospital vsHarjolAhluwalia, the court expanded upon the definition of the term consumers and held that in case a child suffers an injury due to the fault of the hospital, the parents are also entitled to receive compensation as consumers. 

Case Study 2

Another case was that of VP Shanta where it was held that medical services are to be included under the definition of services as provided under Section 2(1)(o) of the consumer protection act and thus any deficiency in such medical service will be liable to be given compensation for.

Conclusion:

Therefore, in this article, we saw the right granted to consumers. And how some of the case laws that brought changes to consumer protection laws in our country. Moreover, consumer law has been a new and exciting area of law that affects people in their very basic lifestyle. It is important that this field continues to develop with the progress of time. Moreover, with the judicial pronouncement, and the introduction of new legislation.