TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (4) TMI 306
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....hael, Ms. Disha Singh, Shivendu Gaur, V.G. Pragasam, S. Prabu Ramasubramanian, Ms. Aruna Mathur, Yusuf Khan, Avneesh Arputham, Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Gopal Singh, Rituraj Biswas, Ms. Varsha Poddar, Vikrant Yadav, Mukul Singh, Gaurav Dhingra, Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, Ms. Rachna Srivastava, Ms. Monika, Sukrit R. Kapoor, Ajay Pal, Arun K. Sinha, Avijit Bhattacharjee, Balaji Srinivasan, Gunnam Venkateswara Rao, Kuldip Singh, Naresh K. Sharma, Pradeep Misra, Rajesh Srivastava, Ravindra Kumar, R. Gopalakrishnan, S. Srinivasan, T. Harish Kumar, Tushar Bakshi, Ms. C.K. Sucharita, M/s. Corporate Law Group, T.V. Ratnam, Ashok K. Srivastava, C.D. Singh, Krishnanand Pandeya, K.R. Sasiprabhu, Milind Kumar, Pramod Dayal, Radha Shyam Jena, Rajeev Sharma, Sibo Sankar Mishra, Ms. Revathy Raghavan, Tara Chandra Sharma, Ms. A. Subhashini, Ms. Kaveeta Wadia, Ms. Sumita Hazarika, Advocates, with them, for the Appearing Parties. JUDGMENT [Judgment per : D.Y. Chandrachud, J.]. - The deficiency of infrastructure in the adjudicatory fora constituted under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 has led to several directions of this Court in the course of the proceedings in this case. On 14 January, 2016, this Co....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e Committee for streamlining the state of affairs. 3. The pathetic state of infrastructure is made evident in the following findings in the report of the Committee : "The Committee, during its visits to states, has found that there are no proper court-rooms with lights and fans, chairs and tables. The condition of Chambers of the Presiding Members is pathetic. They do not have adequate or trained staff. They do not have stenographers for taking dictations. At some Consumer Fora, there are no peons to retrieve the files from the Record Room. The Record-Rooms are, also, either too small and have no almirah, shelves or compactors to keep the files. The files are kept in open and get misplaced or eaten by termites. The Central Government provides funds for construction of the new buildings, carrying out additions/alterations/renovations of existing buildings and grant for acquiring non-building assets such as furnitures, office equipments, etc. The State Governments have to provide the land for construction of new buildings for the Consumer Fora. The Committee has noted that the State Governments have not been quick enough to allot land for construction of Consumer Fora in their....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....n-Judicial Member Mr. Jamal Akhtar posted at District Forum Meerut has been absenting without permission since 11-5-2015. The State Government has failed to take any action against him. Even the plea of President, State Commission has gone unheeded. The result is that his post has not been declared vacant and another non-Judicial Member posted elsewhere has been attached in his place. (16) One non-Judicial Member who had her first term at Lucknow and has now been enjoying her Second Term, having been appointed for District Forum Barabanki but has been attached to Greater Noida and as per the reports, comes to Forum once or twice a week. Another woman non-Judicial Member who happens to be wife of a bureaucrat was appointed for District Forum Baghpat but was attached/posted at Greater Noida. These few instances make it crystal clear that there is definite political influence and interference and in such a scenario, the work of District Consumer Fora is affected as it results in lowering the morale of the President. (17) In Haryana, a non-Judicial Woman Member did/does not attend the District Forum regularly, as she has to travel around 150/160 km every day. The President ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ourt, the conditions of service of members of the National Commission are not at par with those of the sitting judges of the High Court. The National Commission hears appeals and revisions against orders of the State Commissions, whose Presidents are treated at par with judges of the High Court. An anomalous situation prevails where members of a higher forum (the National Commission) have conditions of service inferior to those applicable to members of a forum lower in hierarchy. The Committee has proposed that the members of the National Commission should get the same salaries, allowances and conditions of services as are available to sitting judges of the High Court. 6. The Committee has opined that it is necessary to confer upon the President of the National Commission the power to recruit and transfer staff, to obviate delay in appointments. Exemption from consultation with the UPSC should, it is proposed, be granted as in the case of several other statutory tribunals, such as CAT, AFT and NGT. 7. The posts of President and members of the State Commission in Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir are lying vacant for more than one year. The Committee was assured by the Prin....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e hearing of matters, prior service of copies of documents produced by one party to the opposite parties, furnishing of English translation of judgments written in any language, speedy grant of copies of documents; (iii) generally overseeing the functioning of the State Commissions or the District Fora to ensure that the objects and purposes of the Act are best served without in any way interfering with their quasi-judicial freedom. (2) The State Commission shall have administrative control over all the District Fora within its jurisdiction in all matters referred to in sub-section (1)".                         (emphasis supplied) Clause (iii) of sub-section (1) of Section 24B confers upon the National Commission the power of administrative control over all the State Commissions to generally oversee the functioning of the State Commissions or the district fora to ensure that the objects and purposes of the Act are best served. However, this is to be achieved without interfering with the quasi-judicial freedom of the State Commissions and the district fora....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....Act. (2) The State Government may, by notification, make rules for carrying out the provisions contained in clause (b) of sub-section (2) and sub-section (4) of section 7, clause (b) of sub-section (2) and sub-section (4) of section 8A, clause (b) of sub-section (1) and sub-section(3) of section 10, clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 13, clause (hb) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (3) of section 14, section 15 and clause (b) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of section 16 of this Act." The composition of the district fora is provided in Section 10 while the composition of the State Commissions is provided in Section 16. Section 10(3) provides as follows : "10.  ... (3) The salary or honorarium and other allowances payable to, and the other terms and conditions of service of the members of the District Forum shall be such as may be prescribed by the State Government : [Provided that the appointment of a member on whole-time basis shall be made by the State Government on the recommendation of the President of the State Commission taking into consideration such factors as may be prescribed including the work load of the District Forum.] The pension ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ssion shall consist of not less than two, and not more than such number of members, as may be prescribed, and one of whom shall be a woman, who shall have the following qualifications, namely :- (i) be not less than thirty-five years of age; (ii) possess a bachelor's degree from a recognised university; and (iii) be persons of ability, integrity and standing, and have adequate knowledge and experience of at least ten years in dealing with problems relating to economics, law, commerce, accountancy, industry, public affairs or administration." 11. The Central Government is vested with rule making power in relation to Section 20(1)(b) - relating to appointments of members of the National Commission under Section 30. The rule making power with reference to the provisions of Section 10(1)(b) and Section 16(1)(b) is vested in the State Government under Section 30. The difficulty arises because the vesting of the rule making power in the State Governments in this manner may result in a lack of uniformity of rules across the country, both in regard to the terms and conditions of service as well as in regard to the modalities to be followed in ensuring that persons a....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....el rules so framed shall be placed before this Court for its approval. After the model rules are approved by this Court, the State Governments shall while exercising their rule making authority with reference to the provisions of Section 10(1)(b) and Section 16(1)(b) and with reference to the provisions of Sections 10(3) and 16(2) frame rules in conformity with the model rules. Existing rules, if any, shall have to be brought in conformity with the model rules. 14. Under Section 30(A)(1) the National Commission is empowered, with the previous approval of the Central Government, to frame regulations not inconsistent with the Act to provide for all matters for which provision is necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of the Act. It is necessary for the National Commission to frame regulations expeditiously to give effect to its administrative control under Section 24B. The Regulations shall inter alia extend to ensuring the effective exercise of administrative control by the National Commission over the State Commissions and by the latter over the district fora. 15. Under Section 24B the adjudicatory fora under the Consumer Protection Ac....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....he President and Member of the State Commission at the earliest; and (c) The State of Uttar Pradesh be directed to take appropriate disciplinary action against Mr. Jamal Akhtar, non-judicial member of District Forum for his unauthorized absence for over a year, forthwith." We find justification in this request of the Committee. The reliefs mentioned in (a) and (b) above are allowed. A copy of this order shall be served on the Chief Secretaries respectively of the States of Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir for compliance within a period of two months from the receipt of a copy. As regards prayer (c), the President of the State Commission in Uttar Pradesh shall cause a notice to be served upon Shri Jamal Akhtar posted at the district forum, Meerut, who has been absenting himself without permission allegedly since 11 May, 2015. The Committee has noted that the State Government has failed to take action against him and even the plea of the President of the State Commission has gone unheeded. We order and direct that the President of the State Commission shall upon the issuance of a notice to show cause to Shri Jamal Akhtar and after furnishing him an opportunity of submitting his ....