Final Internship Report.docx

FINAL REPORT

Report of Internship Training

CONSUMER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER

For the academic year 2018-2019

Prepared & Submitted By Siddhant Raj (91801040002) BA.LL.B (HONS) COURSE

1

Preface This report is an outcome of the four weeks Internship programme of Faculty of Law, Marwadi University for the students of II semester. The main constituents are the report on fieldwork carried out during the internship, the research on related issues/cases/matter and the weekly report of my work. I have tried my best to do justice with my activities and put it in black and white with the same effort as I did it during the internship.

Siddhant Raj Date: 08.02.2019

Name & Signature of Trainee.

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Acknowledgment

The internship opportunity I had with Consumer Education and Research Center (CERC) was a great chance for learning and professional development. Therefore, I consider myself as a very lucky individual as I was provided with an opportunity to be a part of it. I am also grateful for having a chance to meet so many wonderful people and professionals who led me though this internship period. I express my deepest thanks to Mr. Abhishek Awasthi, my Internship Supervisor for taking part in useful decision & giving necessary advices and guidance and arranged all facilities to make life easier during the internship period. I choose this moment to acknowledge his contribution gratefully. It is my radiant sentiment to place on record my best regards, deepest sense of gratitude to Mr. Taranjeet Singh, and Mrs. Meena Nair, from legal Department for their careful and precious guidance, which was extremely valuable for my study both theoretically and practically. On this note, I would express my deepest gratitude to the Faculty of Law, Marwadi University for guiding me and providing me Internship at this esteemed organization and lastly, I would like to thank my fellow interns who helped in every situation when I needed. I perceive this opportunity as a big milestone in my career development. I will strive to use gained skills and knowledge in the best possible way, and I will continue to work on their improvement, in order to attain desired career objectives.

Certificate (Scanned Copy) 3

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5

Table of Content Sr. No

Subject

Page No

1.

Preface

1

2.

Acknowledgement

2

3.

Certificate

3

4.

List of abbreviations

5

5.

Executive Summary

6

6.

Brief About NGO/Law Firm/Trial Court/High Court/Supreme

12

Court/Institution 7.

Introduction

14

8.

Project/Cases/Matters assisted/ undertaken/ observed

14

during the internship 9.

Outcome of your learning and observations during the

15

internship 10.

Relevant cases and laws referred and researched during the

16

internship relating to the matters and cases 11.

Conclusion

17

12.

Bibliography

18

13.

Appendix

19

14.

Annexure

25

6

List of Abbreviations

SR. NO.

ABBREVIATION

FULL FORM

1.

CERC

Consumer Education and Research Centre

2.

SC

Supreme Court

3.

HC

High Court

4.

NCDRC

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission

5.

Sec

Section

6.

Art

Article

7.

CPA

Consumer Protection Act

8.

Hon’ble

Honorable

9.

EL

Electrical Laboratory

10.

NUJS

National University of Judicial Science

11.

V.

Versus

12.

NGO

Non-Government Organization

13.

CERS

Consumer Education and Research Society

14.

CPR

Consumer Protection Reporter.

15.

CPJ

Consumer Protection Judgement

16.

Vol.

7

Volume

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

OVERVIEW I started my internship in CERC on 1st January, 2019 and the journey of 4 weeks in this organization has been enlightening. Being able to get some real-life exposure in the field of consumer protection has helped me in better understanding of the concepts of consumer protection.

WEEK 1 In the first week, the major emphasis was on the complaints department (NON-LITIGATION PROCESS). The first step in CERC starts with the complaint department where mediation is used as an alternative to dispute resolution. I read and analysed multiple complaints which were registered by the consumers. The process in the complaint department is: A) Send a letter to the opposite party B) If they don’t reply, 2 reminder letters are sent to the opposite party. C) If they reply, they are called for mediation and if not, the case is sent to the legal department for litigation D) If mediation is not successful, the case proceeds to litigation. I got the opportunity to analyse 5 consumer cases (3 of National Commission and 2- Supreme Court) and prepare a synopsis which included the facts, issue and the judgement of the case. The cases involved medical negligence, Non-payment of insured goods, deficiency of service and non-payment of claim by the insurance company. Abhishek Sir believes that reading judgements is a good way of understanding the legislation itself and it proved true for me.

WEEK 2 8

In Week 2, we started with Legal Notices. Legal notice is the last warning which is given to the opposite party. The notice states the facts of the case and provides the opposite party a chance to fix the issue of the consumer or they will have to face legal proceedings. We also visited in built laboratories of CERC. It consists of Food Laboratory and Electrical Laboratory. Firstly, the Head of Electrical Department had an interactive session with us on the electricity Act and showed us some faulty manufactured appliances. We visited the High Court and the State Commission. I witnessed the court proceedings of Criminal court, division Bench and the Court of Chief Justice of Gujarat. In State commission, we witnessed a proceeding where the consumer represented himself in the court. We had an enlightening Interactive session one of the members of CERC on the topic of Environment and plastic. My major take from this session was the grading of the plastic from 1 to 7. We also visited the food laboratory, where we had a session with the head of Food laboratory on the constituents of packaging of the food.

WEEK 3 After getting acquainted with the structure of the complaint we were given an ongoing case file and asked to draft a complaint for it and depending how well we drafted it was to be submitted into the state commission. There were 2 mediation sessions of which we were a part of and understood the whole process and the way in which they conduct the mediation. We were divided into a group of 5 people each and were asked to conduct surveys and make necessary conclusions from the data acquired. For that we had to make a questionnaire which would be having questions pertaining to Consumer Awareness. We 5 members were also allotted legal research work by the head of electrical appliances laboratory to fill a questionnaire which had16 questions pertaining to Electricity Act,2003

WEEK 4

9

In week 4, I concentrated on the projects given to us by CERC. In a group of 3, We made a questionnaire on Consumer awareness. The response was staggering, we got 151 responses and then we interpreted the responses. The major conclusion we observed was that 33% of the people didn’t know about Consumer rights and about CERC. This shows a need for Consumer Awareness in the Indian Society. There were 10 questions and the age group ranged from 15 to 25. We were given a questionnaire of 16 questions by the EL. I also completed my project on Misleading Advertisement.

.

Descriptions of Laws Learnt/dealt with: 10

As I was interning at an NGO which works mainly for Consumer Protection, we mainly had to dealt with the laws mentioned in the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. Following are some of the sections which I learnt during my internship at CERC :

Sec. 2(c), Provisions for filing a Complaint.



Sec. 2(d), Definition of a Consumer.



Sec. 14, Findings of District Forum.



Sec. 15, 19, 23, Appeals for State Commission, National commission and the Supreme Court of India.



Sec. 11, 17, 21, Pecuniary and territorial Jurisdiction of District Forum, State and National Commission.



Sec. 24(A), Limitation Period



Sec. 6, Rights of Consumers



Unfair Trade Practice



Misleading Advertisements



Food & Packaging related Laws

Learning Outcome

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

In the very first week of our internship we learnt how to make Legal Notice which I think is an utmost important thing because either your complaint will get resolved at that stage per se or you will have to take another course for getting an amicable solution.



In the second week we were made to learnt how to draft a Legal Complaint for filing it in the Courts which is also an important step if done effectively one can win half of the case there only.



We also learnt the Process of how the CERC works that is after receiving a Complaint they send a first letter through mail to the respondent asking for a reply in two weeks of time and if not getting any reply in return they even send a reminder letter asking for a reply in two weeks of time and if not then they’ll use the legal recourse which according to them should be the last resort to use because they believe that through Mediation each and every complaint can be solved and an amicable solution can be achieved easily.



We also learned about the types of plastics used in different products and also identifying the type through different symbols embedded on it.





We had multiple interactive sessions on different topics:

CERC Envis- Environment



Misleading Advertisements



Consumer Club and consumer legal advice

In Misleading Advertisements Session we learnt about the regulatory bodies like ASCI in which certain rules and regulations are given for advertising your product.



We did a survey on Consumer Behavior and based on the data we made the interpretation and came to some conclusions which revealed the consumer behavior.



CERC has an in- house Food Laboratory & Electricity Appliances Laboratory where we were shown certain experiments which will be helpful to us in future while purchasing alike products.



Lastly, we read different types of Cases filed which are either solved or still pending, that gave us an upper hand compared to the other consumers because we will be more 12

cautious while doing alike transactions and remain safe from such exploitation of the consumers.

Analysis of Final Report A Brief of Consumer Education Research Centre (CERC) 13

C.E.R.C. was set up in 1978. It is a non-political, non-profit and non-government organization. The campus area of C.E.R.S. is spread over 10000 sq. m. and has staff strength of 53. Main area of work of NGO is educating consumers and empowering them by the effective use of media, law and education. The three main goals of the NGO is 1) to educate the consumers 2) to help them protect themselves through making them aware about their rights 3) make the goods and services providers accountable.

Various activities are undertaken by the NGO. It includes comparative testing of products, complaints handling, legal advice and litigation, consumer education and awareness programme, library and information service, publication, advocacy, environment protection.

An in-house laboratory is also built which tests the quality of various products varying from food products to cosmetics and electrical appliances. The reports of test results which are conducted by the laboratory are published in the national bimonthly magazine ‘INSIGHT- THE CONSUMER MAGAZINE’. It also published the same in Hindi language under the head ‘GRAHAK SATHI’.

The NGO has been working for 37 years in the field of consumer protection and awareness

Project/Cases/Matters assisted/ undertaken/ observed during the internship 14



Legal notices, (Annexure A)



Legal Complaint, (Annexure B)



5 Case Synopsis, (Annexure C)



Survey on Consumer Awareness. (Annexure D)



Project on Misleading Advertisements. (Annexure E)

General Observations

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General observation made by me during the internship period are as follows

There is a certain kind of procedure which is needed to be followed when case comes to the NGO. This included writing an informal complaint, sending a message with the complaint to the opposite party, sending first notice to the opposite party and finally asking the opposite party to compensate the aggrieved person in order to avoid any legal proceedings.



The NGO has divided itself into various sections facilitation of the persons. The various sections of the NGO are





Complaints Department



Legal Department



Consumer Awareness Department



Department for environment awareness etc.

While breaking the judgments and also while reading the complaints the type of consumer disputes came into the light and the most common were the problems of telecommunication and insurance claims. Cases of Failure of allotting residential land were also seen and also the cases of medical negligence were seen.



Most of the cases are solved without the need of legal involvement by the process of settlement and arbitration.



There are times when the consumer is not correct or by fraudulent means tries to extract money. Therefore the main aim of the arbitration carried out by the NGO is justice and not compensation of the consumer.



The NGO has also a separate branch concerning the environment literacy. This branch carried activities of educating the consumers on the consistent use of eco-friendly products.

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

As per the experts of NGO the consumer protection act has become very old and is not able to solve every problem arising in the society. For instance the problem of jurisdiction on online sale of goods..



The in-house laboratory which was built does a remarkable job in testing various food articles in case there is a complaint of any adulteration in the food.



There is also a laboratory for testing the electrical appliances.



While drafting the complaint certain format has to be observed. The complaint should include the cause of action and limitation and various other things.

Relevant cases and laws referred and researched during the internship relating to the matters and cases

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CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT:

Sec. 2(d), Definition of the Consumer



Sec. 14, Findings of the District Forum



Sec. 15, 19, 23, Appeals



Sec. 24(A), Limitation Period

Cases Referred: 

Devraj Sharma & ANR vs. KLM North West Airlines.1



Pradeep Sharma vs. Chief Administrator Haryana Urban Dev. Authority & ANR.2



Honda seil cars India Ltd. & ANR vs. Abdul K. Rubb.3



Sheela Hibra Naik Gaunekar vs. Apollo Hospitals Ltd.



Force Motors Ltd. Th. ITS Authorized, Signatory vs. DPS Section School, Th. Manager, & ANR.4

Conclusion This internship in C.E.R.C. helped me in knowing the real problems of the consumers and how they are handled by the NGO. This internship has been a big learning curve for me. Practical exposure, Theoretical knowledge and the opportunity to work with Abhishek Sir, Taranjeet Sir

1

Devraj Sharma & ANR vs. KLM North West Airlines. I (2014) CPJ 85 (NC) Pradeep Sharma vs. Chief Administrator Haryana Urban Dev. Authority & ANR. 2016 (1) CPR 111 (SC) 3 Honda seil cars India Ltd. & ANR vs. Abdul K. Rubb. I (2014) CPJ 52 4 Force Motors Ltd. Th. ITS Authorized, Signatory vs. DPS Section School, Th. Manager, & ANR. 2014 (4) CPR 495 (NC) 2

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and Meena ma’am has helped me in better understanding of Consumer protection and in gaining experience in the field of litigation.This internship has been a tremendous journey for me. Firstly, I got the opportunity to work in CERC and secondly, I was able to apply the theoretical knowledge that I gained in the college, in real life. Not only I drafted legal notices and complaints for the cases that were already settled, but I got the opportunity to draft these for some pending cases. Taranjeet Sir guided me on these cases on how can I make these drafts more effective and persuasive. I hope that I get a chance to work with CERC in the future. The Legal department has been so kind towards us and every member has helped us in our difficulties. I consider CERC and my fellow interns as a part of my family and I surely will miss sitting in the cubicle and reading Consumer complaint files. I can surely say that my expectations from this internship were fulfilled. I got the opportunity to visit the High Court and the State commission. This is the 1st time that I visited a Court and it was a wonderful experience. I visited the CERC electrical laboratory and food laboratory. I was assigned multiple projects which kept me During the internship, the biggest revelation for me was that many people were not aware about Consumer rights and the institutions like CERC which work for consumer protection. I will give my best to spread this awareness to as many people and I will give my best to keep working further in the field of consumer protection and stay connected with CERC

Bibliography 1.

https://cercindia.org/

2.

Bare Act of Consumer Protection Act

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3.

CPR Vol. 1 2014

4.

CPR Vol. 3 2016

5.

CPJ Vol. 1 2014

6.

CPJ Vol. 1 2014

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Appendix

Weekly Report- I

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Sr. No.

Dates of Week

Nature of Work done Case analysis and observation of Successful (Consumer Complaint) files

1

01.01.2019 (Tuesday)

2

02.01.2019 (Wednesday)

Case analysis and observation of Pending (Consumer Complaint) files

3

03.01.2019 (Thursday)

Make synopsis by reading judgments of (NC) National commission

4

04.01.2019 (Friday)

Make synopsis by reading judgments of (SC)

Learning Outcome Able to know that what is the whole Procedure to file a complaint and How complaint department works Able to know That what are the circumstances included in a pending complaint and what is the next procedure to make a pending complaint successful By reading whole case I’m able to learn that how to find out issues and ratio in a particular case

By reading whole case I’m able to learn that how to find out issues and ratio in a particular case

Weekly Report – II

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Remarks I have read more than 2 Files which includes 10-15 Complaints

I have study one Pending file which includes more than 100 Pending cases

I have studied 03 (National commission cases) from Consumer protection act, Judgments (CPJ 20142013) I have studied 02 (Supreme Court cases) from Consumer protection act, Judgments (CPJ 20142013)

Sr. No. 1 2 3

Dates of Week Dates of Week 07.01.2019 14.01.2019 (Monday) (Monday) 15.01.2019 (Tuesday) 16.01.2019 (Wednesday)

2

08.01.2019 (Tuesday)

3

09.01.2019 (Wednesday)

4 4

5

5

17.01.2019 (Thursday) 10.01.2019 (Thursday)

11.01.2019 (Friday)

18.01.2019 (Friday)

Nature of work Nature of Learning Learning Remarks Remarks donework done Outcome Outcome Studied able to know I have drafted Successful that what does Legal notice Legal Notice & Legal Notice against Drafted A means and how reliance, in Legal Notice a Legal a Drafted to a draftAble to know which The was complaint Notice what consumer mediation overcharged complaint is sessionby was 5/- and Attended a and how it can Rs.great Studied Facts mediationable to know be drafted I have drafted both the of an ongoing that how to find A legal Notice session with parties settled case the andaggrievedFacts andto know for A refund of Able down. Drafted a Legal drafted a Fresh money party what does Notice Legal Notice expenses (Contractor term Visited High know I have saw vs. house able to“Mediation” Court owner) the decorum means three types of and cases, proceedings of Criminal, Civil We made a Able to know NIL. survey in High Court a bit more & Petitions Attended a of 5Able to know NIL. group about Lecturepersons, on that how many on consumer ENVISconsumer types of because rights (Environment awareness.plasticsofare survey Information there and conduct what System) are the different We started forto know reading marks Able And Visited productsagiven Electricity nit about FoodAct till part by government Electricity Laboratory VI Act. And able to Attendedknow that how anotherand what to see mediation in a food session with packets Visitedthe state Able to know NIL. aggrieves commission parties that how consumer And attended a disputes are lectureWe on searched resolved Able to know NIL. ConsumerConsumer Club about related consumer provision related mentioned in provisions in 23

Electricity Act, 2003 And Amended the survey and convert it into digital form through Google Forms.

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Electricity Act.

Weekly Report- IV

Sr. No.

Dates of Week

1

21.01.2019 (Monday)

2

22.01.2019 (Tuesday)

3

23.01.2019 (Wednesday)

4

24.01.2019 (Thursday)

5

25.01.2019 (Friday)

6

28.01.2019 (Monday)

Nature of work done Filed a Questionnaire on electricity Act made by Electricity Lab. Made a questionnaire on Consumer Awareness in a group of 5 persons

Learning Outcome Able to know some questions related to electricity Act.

Remarks

Able to know that, How many people are actually aware about consumer related issues.

NIL.

Made the abstract for the Electricity Act, 2003.

NIL.

Able to know some basic laws related to consumers Completed the Able to know a Project assigned bit more about to us, and my consumer topic is rights because Misleading of survey Advertisement. conduct

Started the Interpretation of the 151 Responses of Questionnaire made by us. Completed the Interpretation and submitted to the Cerc.

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NIL.

Able to know a nit about Electricity Act. NIL.

NIL.

NIL.

NIL.

Last day of Internship

Annexure – A (Legal Notice)

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Legal Notice by Registered A.D.

Date: 10th December 2017

CERS/Law/AVA/ 103

To, The Manager (Customer Care) Reliance fresh Reliance Retail Ltd. Ahmedabad, Gujarat Sub:- Legal Notice for overcharging the product amount from one of our member Mr. Sandeep Sharma. Sir, 1. Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS) Is a registered society under the Societies Registration Act (XXI) of 1860. It is also a Public Charitable Trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act. The society was Registered on 15th December, 1986. The society is mainly devoted to the promotion and protection of consumer interest through complaint handling, publication, Legal research , media and effective uses of legal processes. It also undertakes research investigation into various consumer problems in different fields. 2. Under the instructions and on behalf of our member Mr. Sandeep Sharma (herein after referred as complainant’), Residing at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, We hereby serve upon you the following legal notice : 3. The complainant has purchased Total items worth Rs. 1703/- from Reliance fresh store at Bodakdev, Ahmedabad, on May 15th ,2014. & one of the item was Safal Frozen Mix Veg pack Worth Rs, 50/- as written on MRP of the packet, while Reliance fresh is charging Rs. 55/-, For the item (Invoice No. C4860, CIN No. U01100MH1999PLC120563). 4. That being aggrieved by the aforesaid overcharging the price of the product, the complainant approached to Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS) on 09.07.2014. 5. You are aware that this amount is violation of consumer protection act, 1986 and for this instance, refund of Rs 5/- is not sufficient for Mr. Sandeep sharma 6. And further you are liable to pay Rs 1000/- for Legal Notice and Incidental charges of Rs/- 1500, which our member has incurred in this connection 27

7. We hereby call upon you to immediately make good the payment of the amount specified in point No. 6 & 7 herein above to amounting to Rs. 2,505/- (Two Thousand Five Hundred and Five Only) failing which we will be constrained to initiate further legal action and proceedings against you before appropriate legal authority/ Court of law, more particularly under the Consumer Protection Act and other allied consumer Laws Copy to, Mr. Sandeep Sharma C-12 Imperial Heights, Ahmedabad 380 054 Gujarat

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Legal Notice by Registered A.D.

Date: 15th December 2018

CERS/Law/AVA/ 103

To, The Senior Manager (Customer Service) Air India Ltd. Nr. Nehru Bridge, Lal Darwaja, Ahmedabad- 380001 Gujarat Sub:- Legal Notice for Refund for Loss of Money/ Expenses Incurred and claim for damages and Mental Harassment due to having missed the Journey due to Delay of flight

1. Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS) Is a registered society under the Societies Registration Act (XXI) of 1860. It is also a Public Charitable Trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act. The society was Registered on 15th December, 1986. The society is mainly devoted to the promotion and protection of consumer interest through complaint handling, publication, Legal research , media and effective uses of legal processes. It also undertakes research investigation into various consumer problems in different fields. 2. Under the instructions and on behalf of our member Mr. Nisarg. B. Soni (herein after referred as complainant’), Residing at F-201 Abhiyam Apartment, Nr. St. Xaviers Loyola school Navrangpura Ahmedabad-13, Gujarat, We hereby serve upon you the following legal notice : 3. The complainant had booked the flight tickets from ‘Air India’ to travel from Ahmedabad to Singapore on 22nd Feb. 2018 and return for the same on date. 3rd March. 2018. Mr. Nisarg. B. Soni gets an update from the Airline (Air India) In the month of December 2017 regarding the schedule/timing change in departure of flight due to delay of the flight from Ahmedabad to Delhi which results Mr. Nisarg. B. Soni in missing the flight from Delhi to Singapore, Which forced them to cancel their cruise journey from Singapore and a financial loss of Rs. 35600/- (Thirty Five Thousand Six Hundred Only) Copy To, Mr. Nisarg. B. Soni F-201 Abhiyam Apartment, Nr. St. Xaviers Loyola school Navrangpura Ahmedabad-13 29

Annexure – B (Legal Notice)

30

Legal Complaint

BEFORE THE HON’BLE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM AT AHMEDABAD Complaint No. ______ Of 2019

1. Consumer Education & Research Society “Suraksha Sankool” S.G Highway, Thaltej …Complainant No. 1

Ahmedabad-380 054

2. Mr. Narendra K. Kamdar 3- Bhavik Society Opp. Fatehpura, Paldi …Complainant No. 2

Ahmedabad-380 007

Versus

1.

The Manager

Neesa Leisure Ltd. The Cambay Grand Near AUDA Sports Complex Off S.G. Road, Thaltej …Opposite party No. 1

Ahmedabad-380054

The complaint under The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and Rules framed there under:

To, The Hon’ble President And Other Hon’ble Members The Consumer Forum 31

The humble complaint of the Complainants above named

Most Respectfully Sheweth:

1. That the Complainant No. 1 Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS) is a Registered Society incorporated under Societies Act (XXI) of 1860. It is a Public Charitable Trust registered under the provisions of Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950, on 15th December 1986 and it has eight founder members, 5813 ordinary members, 33 institutional members, 3 volunteer members and 5 student members. The Society is mainly devoted to promotion and protection of Consumer interest through complaint handling, publications, legal research, media exposure and use of legal process-mechanism. It also undertakes the research and investigations into various consumer problems and issued in different fields to find out the resolution. The society was promoted and set up by the Consumer Education and Research Centre, Ahmedabad, an organization working in the field of consumer protection since 1978. It has been recognized as a “registered consumer association” in terms of clause (n) of section 2 of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practice Act, 1969 with Registration no. 01/88, vide no. 31/2/87-M III dated 27.01.1988 by the Govt. of India, Department of Company Affairs for protecting consumer interest and conferring locus standi before the MRTP Commission. It has initiated public interest litigation before the Supreme Court of India, High Courts, Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission, National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission and other Judicial and Quasi-Judicial Authorities. The copy of CERS registration certificate is annexed herewith as Annexure “A1”.

2. That the Opponent No. 1 is a business conglomerate having diversified business interests in Hospitality, Infrastructure, IT, Agritech, Food Processing, Education, Timeshare etc. There headquarter is in Ahmedabad and has multiple business activities and units in places like Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Udaipur etc. Under its Hospitality division, owns and operates Hotels, Resorts, Clubs, and SPAs etc., in metro cities.

32

3. That the Complainant No. 2 Mr. Narendra K. Kamdar (herein after referred as the “complainant” for the sake of brevity) got “Royal Jonquil” booked on 27th February 2011 by paying the booking amount of Rs. 51000/- for the marriage of his daughter that was to be held on 15th May 2011. That the cash receipt for the booking amount is being annexed as Annexure C 1.

4. That because of some unavoidable circumstances the complainant was not able to hold his daughters marriage ceremony on 15th May 2011 and therefore he sent a letter dated on 21st April 2011 to the Opposite party No. 1 informing about the cancellation of his daughter’s marriage ceremony on 15th May 2011 and simultaneously he also requested to refund the amount of 51000/- that the complainant deposited with you at the time of booking. The letter which was sent to notify the hotel for the cancellation of the event and refunding the money is being annexed as Annexure C 2.

5. That the Complainant No. 2 informed that even after receiving the letter dated 21st April 2011 from him, the opposite party did not refunded the amount of Rs. 51,000 (Rupee Fifty One Thousand only) to him. Later Complainant No. 2 approached to the Complainant No. 1 to get his grievances redressed through the mediation process. Complainant No. 1 issued a first letter to Opposite party on 6th March 2012 and thereafter a reminder letter on 9th April 2012 requesting the Opposite party to resolve the complaint of the Complainant No. 2. However, the opposite party willfully neglected and constantly failed to refund the amount of Rs. 51,000 (Rupee Fifty One Thousand only) to the Complainant No. 2.

6. That the Complainant No. 2 informed the Opposite party No.1 in the form of a written communication and thus giving them a good amount of time to find a replacement for that date and therefore they should return the money with the interest due on it.

33

7. That this Hon’ble Forum has the jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the complaint since the office of opposite party no. 1 lies within the territorial jurisdiction of this forum and the cause of action has also arisen within the territorial jurisdiction of this forum.

8. That the cause of action for filling the present complaint arose for the first time on 21st April 2011 when a letter informing the cancellation of the hall and refunding the amount because of the unavoidable circumstances resulting in the cancellation of the marriage and is being filed within the prescribed limitation period.

9. That the complainant No.2 reserves his right to claim appropriate compensation at appropriate time for all the harassment, agony and pain caused to him due to unresponsive and irresponsible attitude of the opposite party.

PRAYER

34

10. In the view of the aforesaid submissions, it is most respectfully prayed that the Hon’ble Forum may be pleased to pass: 1. An order directing the opposite party to pay Rs. 51,000/- with interest at rate of 12% per annum from 21st April 2011 to the complainant; 2. An order directing the opposite party to pay Rs. 25,000 for mental pain and harassment to Complainant; 3. An order directing the opposite parties to pay Rs.10, 000 as cost of litigation to the Complainants as a cost of litigation; 4. Any other order which this Hon’ble forum deems fit and appropriate in facts and circumstances of the case. For which act of kindness, the complainant shall, as is duty bound, ever pray.

Place:

Complainant Through...

Dated:

(Advocate or Consumer Association)

35

Annexure – C (CASE SYNOPSIS)

CONSUMER COURT CASE DEVRAJ SHARMA & ANR.– Petitioners 36

Versus KLM NORTH WEST AIRLINES – Respondents CITATION: I (2014) CPJ 85 (NC) FACTS OF THE CASE:

 Complainants/ Petitioners travelled from New Delhi to Atlanta (USA) and came back to New Delhi by airlines.  Complainant were illtreated during the course of the journey and their baggage was also damages due to rain, thunder storm which has costing Rs. 3,96,000. On arrival at destination baggage was opened in presence of opposition party baggage was totally damaged and when the petitioner told them to compensate the damage but, OP refused to pay and then after complainant files an complaint before district forum.  District court allowed complaint partly and directed OP to pay Rs. 1,00,000 for the damage of goods and Rs. 1,00,000 for mental agony and further allowed Rs. 20,000 as cost of litigation.

 As per terms and conditions of tickets, liability was limited up to US $ 20 Per KG, and 640 US $ in check balance which every passenger entitled to pay.  .District court held that US $ 2500 per baggage cannot applied.

ISSUES OF THE CASE:

 Whether there was any safety measures for baggage?  Whether there is any irregularity or jurisdiction error in revised petition?

RATIO:

 The district court partly allowed the complaint of the petitioner and held that limit of 25000 US $ cannot be applied  Journey of complaint was not within the United States, and it was an international journey from US to Delhi 2

SUPREME COURT CASE PRADEEP SHARMA – Appellant 37

Versus CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR HARYANA URBAN DEV. AUTHORITY &ANR. – Respondent CITATION: 2016 (1) CPR 111 (SC) FACTS OF THE CASE:

 The appellant/ complainant was allotted a plot bearing no. 1048 in sector 64, Faridabad measuring 250 sq. yds. Vide memo no. 399 dated 01.01.2001 at the rate of Rs. 1,865/per sq. yds. The appellant along with the application from had deposited 10% as earnest money and 15% of the sale consideration was deposited on 22.01.2001 Balance amount of 75% of the total cost was to be deposited by the appellant in six yearly equal instalments with 15% interest per annum to Haryana Urban Development Authority (for short ‘HUDA’)  HUDA issued the demand notice to the appellant calling upon him to pay a sum of Rs. 59,782.50 vide memo no. 38698 dated 04.10.2002 on account of enhancement of the cost of the plot which as per the terms of allotment they have right to do so. The appellant has failed to deposit the said amount and hence the possession of the plot is not delivered to him. Alleging that there was deficiency on the part of HUDA for not delivering the possession, the appellant filed a complaint before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Faridabad (for short ‘District Forum’) praying for issuance of direction to HUDA to hand over the possession of the plot by adjusting the amount already deposited.

ISSUES OF THE CASE:

 Whether the actions taken against the officials of the HUDA responsible for dereliction of duties?  Whether HUDA executed the necessary document and issue no objection certificate and clearances as may be required within four weeks of time span?

RATIO:

 That the rate for the year 2010 was Rs. 6200/- per sq. metres. and after the year 2010, the rate was not finalized till the year 2014-15, hence the deponent is not in position to intimate the rate of the year 2011. Moreover it is submitted that the rate of the year 2014-15 is Rs. 10500/- per sq. metres.” Considering the fact that the appellant has deposited the then cost of the plot way back in 2009 and other facts and circumstances and in the interest of justice, they directed HUDA to permit the appellant to retain the plot subject to the condition that the appellant pays the cost of plot at the prevailing HUDA rate i.e. Rs.10,500/- per sq. metres.

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SUPREME COURT CASE SHEELA HIRBA NAIK GAUNEKAR -- Petitioner VERSUS APOLLO HOSPITALS LTD. -- Respondent 39

FACTS OF THE CASE:  MRS. RAJYALAKSHMI RAO, MEMBER Wife of the deceased, Mrs. Sheela Hirba Morto Naik Gaunekar, has filed this complaint alleging deficiency in service rendered by the doctors of the Apollo Hospital, Chennai, who carried out the Angioplasty operation, which resulted in death of Mr. Gaunekar on 18.5.1996 in the hospital. It is her say that on 9.4.1996, the deceased was to celebrate his 60th Birthday.  However, he was admitted in Goa Medical College, Bambolin, on 1.4.1996 and was kept under observation for 8 days and was discharged on 9.4.1996. During the observation, the doctors advised the deceased to have Angiography at some future date to dispel doubts of possible blockage of blood vessels.  He thereafter took appointment from Dr.Mathew and went to Apollo Hospitals, Madras on 9.5.1996. Angiogram was taken on 10.5.1996 and the deceased was advised to have Angioplasty by putting stents. Angioplasty was decided to be done on 14.5.1996 at 9.00 AM.  On 14.5.1996, the deceased was given light breakfast and tea at 6.30 AM and was taken to Cathlab at 9.00 AM for Angioplasty. Instead of carrying out Angioplasty, Dr.Vivek Bose came at 12.00 Oclock and assured that Mr.Gaunekar will be taken to Cathlab very soon. However, he was taken only at 4.00 PM in the evening. The complainant was informed at about 6.30 PM by Dr.Vivek Bose that the whole procedure was over and there was no problem in inserting the stents. Thereafter, Mr.Gaunekar was taken to ICCU.  It is the say of the complainant that after going to the ICCU, she noticed that the airconditioner in ICCU was not working and Mr.Gaunekar was restless and perspiring. She, therefore, complained to the doctors. It is her say that in Madras, at the relevant time, temperature was 43oC. She had even complained to the Managing Directors office for this. Thereafter, Dr.Mathew came and informed her that there was nothing to worry as the whole Angioplasty process went on very well and there were no blocks or deposits in the arteries.

ISSUES OF THE CASE: There were basically two main issues undermining the case. One of the major issue was,  Whether there was duly resolved by the national commission as it had taken all the wonderful investigation on its hand and worked brilliantly by studying all the documentaries as well as material evidence it made the job of SC very easier.  Whether the compensation given to plaintiff was reasonable and just or whether there was a need for it to be enhanced RATIO:  The National Commission had made its perspective very clear, by issuing the point that any wrongdoer no matter what he has done will be punished. But , it was believed by the SC that the national commission had made certain mistakes in its calculation. The 40

SC also proved that when a wrong has been committed and impacts the family at large, then there is a very important need for sufficient compensation A compensation paves way for the certain judicial system as stated explicitly by Gowda and Chandrachud JJ.

CONSUMER COURT CASE HONDA SEIL CARS INDIA LTD. & ANR. – Petitioners Versus ABDUL K. RUBB. – Respondents CITATION: I (2014) CPJ 52 41

FACTS OF THE CASE:

 The Consumer bought a car from a dealer of the opposite party, and have reported a deficiency under sec. 2 I (g) in the brake system  The party who has manufactured the car I.e., opposite party after taking an detailed inspection done by experts , found that there is no fault in braking system in the car or any other issue with the car  The district forum ordered that the opposing party/ manufacturer to install the car with ABS (ANTI-BRAKING SYSTEM) or pay the sum of the complaint of Rs. 1,00,000/in terms of compensation  The opposite party files two appeals in the state commission and both were rejected  The opposing party again filed a revised petition with NCDRC (NATIONAL CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISION)

ISSUES OF THE CASE:

 Whether there was any type of deficiency in the part of car or in car?  Whether ABS (ANTI-BRAKING-SYSTEM) was to be installed or not?

RATIO:

 The National Commission allowed the petition under sec. 21(b) of the consumer protection act 1986  The car was not sold with ABS system

CONSUMER COURT CASE FORCE MOTORS LTD.. TH. ITS AUTHORIZED, SIGNATORY-Petitioners VERSUS DPS SECTION SCHOOL, TH. MANAGER, & ANR. – Respondents

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CITATION:2014 (4) CPR 495 (NC) FACTS OF THE CASE:

 Respondent No.1/Complainant purchased Minidoor Auto Rickshaw from Respondent No.2/Opposite Party No.1. This vehicle had been manufactured by the Petitioner. As per case of respondent no.1, since the vehicle was defective he made various complaints but the same was not rectified by the dealer as well as by the manufacturer. Alleging deficiency, on the part of the manufacturer and dealer, respondent no.1 filed a (Consumer Complaint No.59 of 2008) before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Dhoulpur (for short, District Forum).  The consumer complaint was contested by the manufacturer as well as dealer.  The District Forum, vide its order dated 19.09.2010 partly allowed complaint and directed the petitioner and respondent no.2 jointly and severally, to repair the vehicle to the satisfaction of respondent no. 1.  In compliance of the District Forums order dated 19.02.2010, petitioner as well as respondent no.2 repaired the vehicle to the satisfaction of respondent no.1 and obtained Receipt-cum- Undertaking dated 14.10.2010, from him to the effect that the said vehicle has been repaired.

ISSUES OF THE CASE:  Whether the receipt of acknowledged and confirm the delivery of the vehicle is in sound working condition?  whether there is any claim of any nature pending or subsisting on receipt of the vehicle after due repairs.

RATIO:  The above Receipt-cum-Undertaking, it is manifestly clear that in compliance of order dated 19.2.2010 passed by the District Forum in (Consumer Complaint No.59 of 2008), petitioner had repaired the vehicle of respondent no.1. After repairs, respondent no. 1 had inspected the vehicle and also taken its trial on the road. Further, respondent no. 1 was totally satisfied with the conditions and working of the vehicle after such due repairs. Lastly, respondent no.1 has also confirmed that he has no claim of any nature pending or subsisting on receipt of the above vehicle after duly repaired.

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Annexure – D (SURVEY ON “CONSUMER AWARNESS”)

Interpretation of Questionnaire on Consumer Awareness

INTRODUCTION In today’s competitive world, manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers and distributors have forgotten business ethics and have the only motive to earn huge amount of profit irrespective 44

of whether consumers are exploited or not. Consumers are exploited up to large extent in the market in terms of money, quality and quantity while purchasing any product or availing any service. Thus, with intent to protect consumers from being exploited, legislators, with great commitment, brought legislation known as The Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The commitment of the legislators is reflected itself in the preamble of the said Act which is as under: “An Act to provide for better protection of the interests of consumers and for that purpose to make provision for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumers' disputes and for matters connected therewith.”5 Under this Act, rights are provided for the consumers which are as follows: I. Right to be protected against the goods and services which are hazardous to life and property, II. Right to be informed related to the price, quantity, quality, weight, standards, etc., III. Right to be assured to get access to variety of goods and services at competitive prices, IV. Right to be heard consumers’ grievances at appropriate forums, V. Right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or restrictive trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers and VI. Right to consumer education. Thus, the above rights incorporated in the Act, should be known to each and every consumer so as to avoid from being exploit by any seller. On 18th of January, 2019, we conducted an online survey through google forms containing certain personal information such as name, age, sex and e-mail and a questionnaire containing 9 questions. Following were the questions asked in survey: A. Do you know about consumer rights? B. Do you know where consumer rights are mentioned? C. Have you ever felt that you have been exploited by any seller while purchasing any product or availing any service? D. Do you know where to approach if you have been exploited? E. Do you know any organization working for the welfare of the consumer? F. Do you know about Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC)?

5

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, No. 68, Acts of Parliament, 1986 (India)

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G. Do you know any other alternative other than the courts to resolve the issues? H. Do you know the term ‘Mediation’? I. Do you know any schemes which are initiated by the Government of India for welfare of consumers?

AIM OF THE SURVEY: The aim of the survey is to know whether consumers are aware of the listed questions mentioned in the questionnaire and to make consumer aware if they are not.

HYPOTHESIS OF THE SURVEY:  Majority people don’t know that they do have consumer rights vested in the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.  20-30% don’t know where to approach don’t know where to approach if they have been exploited.  50-60% don’t know about any organization which is working for the welfare of the consumers.  Majority of the people don’t know where to approach other than the courts to solve the issues.  80-90% don’t know what is mediation.  Majority of the people don’t know about the Consumer Education and Research Centre.  40-50% don’t know any schemes initiated by the government for the welfare of the consumers.

DATA OF SURVEY AND INTERPRETATION:

 Following pie chart shows the ratio of gender of the people who participated in this survey:

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Majority of the respondents participated in this survey are males.

Q1- Do you know about Consumer rights? ► As per the above analysis, 89% of the participants know about consumer rights where 11% does not know. This shows that majority of the respondents are aware about the consumer rights.

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Q2- Do you know where consumer rights are mentioned?

► The above pie chart proves that 67.1% knows that where rights are mentioned while 32.9% doesn’t know. This shows that still there is need to aware the people about the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 as it is the lifeline of the consumers for safeguarding their interest.

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Q3- Have you ever felt that you have been exploited by any seller while purchasing any product or availing any service?

► From the above pie chart, it is known that around 80% of the respondents have been exploited while purchasing any product or availing the service.

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Q4- Do you know where to approach if you have been exploited?

► 68% of the respondents know where to approach if they have been exploited. Rest 32% are not aware about the same. This shows that still there is need to aware the people.

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Q5- Do you know any other alternative other than the courts to resolve the issues? ► Only 54% knows other alternatives other than the courts. Rest 46% does not know other alternatives. This shows that due to lack of awareness, people directly approach the courts which increase the burden of the courts.

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Q6- Do you know any organization working for the welfare of the consumer? ► From the above pie chart, we can know that 66% of the respondents know about organization working for the welfare of the consumer. Rest 34% does not know anything about any organization working for the welfare of the consumer.

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Q7- Do you know the term ‘Mediation’? ► 61% knows what is mediation. 40% don’t know this term. This response shows that people are still not that much aware about the other methods other than courts to resolve their issues.

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Q8- Do you know about Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC)?

► 67% knows about CERC which is a positive result while 33% does not Know

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Q9- Do you know any schemes which are initiated by the Government of India for welfare of consumers?

►

55% knows the schemes while 41.5% does not know. Whereas 1.2% of the responses

specifically mentioned about the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and “Jago Grahak Jago” Slogan.

SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS: After analyzing the data collected from the survey, we came to know that there is still need to make people aware about:

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I. II.

Consumer Rights Malpractices undertaken by the sellers in order to avoid exploitation

III.

Alternative Dispute Mechanism other than the courts

IV.

Mediation so that affected consumer gets speedy and qualitative justice

V. VI.

Consumer Education and Research Centre Schemes initiated by the Central Government

Thus, a collective step is to be taken by the government, educational institutions and individuals. Government should arrange various programmes and campaigns for making consumer aware about consumer rights. Government should also publish advertisements regarding the malpractices adopted by the sellers so as to aware the consumers about the same. Education institutions should cover the mediation topic in their curriculum so that students acquainted about the mediation process which increases the awareness among the people and thus, this results in reducing the burden of the courts. Government should also organize workshops for training of mediation. This will increase the scope of mediation in India and dispute will be resolved speedily. Individuals should take active interest in the campaigns and programmes organized by the government and non-government organizations. This will reduce the exploitation of the consumers and then only consumers will be considered as a KING. It is rightly said by Mahatma Gandhi “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so.”

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Annexure – E (PROJECT ON “MISLEADING ADVERTISMENT”)

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CONSUMER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER

INTERNSHIP BATCH: 1st January to 28th January, 2019

MISLEADING ADVERTISMNET ASSIGNMEN

Submitted to:

Submitted by:

Mr. Abhishek Awasthi

Siddhantraj

(Head of Legal Department, CERC)

Marwadi University

MISLEADING ADVERTISMENT 58

False advertising is the use of false, misleading, or unproven information to advertise products to consumers. The advertising that does not disclose its source. One form of false advertising is to claim that a product has a health benefit or contains vitamins or minerals that it in fact does not.

On the basis of some Research and observations I have found two Ads. That can be a false or misleading, 1. “PURO Healthy Salt” 2. “REDBULL- Gives you Wings”

(PURO Healthy salt) 59

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Here the company claims that, “Top chefs worldwide recommend this tasty salt for enhancing the flavour in food” This is truly a false statement because as per my research I have searched this product in most of all international E-commerce sites & I have found that this product is nowhere else it is only in Indian Ecommerce sites, and they claims that our product is 100% pure/ natural, if yes then what about enhancing flavour in food? Salt has come a long way from being a highly valued precious element and form of currency. Now days, it’s become a controversial and somewhat demonized “anti-nutrient.” Consequently, people consuming excess sodium can suffer from high blood pressure, stroke and cardiovascular disease6 When people consume it in excess, the salt binds to water in their bloodstream and raises blood pressure7. But the way we consume salt in the Standard Indian Diet is in the form of highly processed table salt. Some Facts about Pink/ Rock Salt:Pink Salt is made up of 97.41% sodium chloride, with 2.59% of it comprising of the 84 minerals that everyone is raving about 1.

6 7

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17556881 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16467498

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The mineral content of each one is so small that they do not contribute to Himalayan pink salt side effects at all. For instance, 0.00389% or 38.9 parts per million of this salt is made of iron oxide, which is known to give the pink colour. When one consumes an excessive amount of sodium, especially in the form of sodium chloride, it has many adverse side effects. The biggest concerns revolve around electrolyte imbalance, which are the ions present in our bodily fluids that keep us hydrated and ensure proper bodily functions like nerve impulses and our heart beat.

Unreliable Sources of Iodine: This only truly applies to Himalayan Pink Salt and other non-iodized salts. Most people get their iodine from dairy products, eggs, seafood and fortified table salt. Then, How they claim that it is 100% Pure/ Natural and Veg.

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(RED BULL - Gives you Wings)

In advertising, there's a big difference between pushing the truth and making false claims.

Many companies have been caught out for peddling mediocre products, using wild claims like "scientifically proven" with "guaranteed results."

Such deceptive conduct and practices mean that [Red Bull's] advertising and marketing is not just 'puffery,' but it instead deceptive and fraudulent and it therefore actionable 65

Even though there is a lack of genuine scientific support for a claim that Red Bull branded energy drinks provide any more benefit to a consumer than a cup of coffee, the Red Bull defendants persistently and pervasively market their product as a superior source of 'energy' worthy of a premium price over a cup of coffee or other sources of caffeine.

*This data is totally based on Research and Observation

Siddhantraj Chavda

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