TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (5) TMI 468
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.....P.(C) 3187/2020 1. The petition has been listed before this Bench by the Registry in view of the urgency expressed therein. 2. The petition has been heard by way of video conferencing. 3. It is pertinent to mention that present public interest litigation has been filed against as many as eighty respondents primarily seeking to convert the Consumer Welfare Fund Bill, 2010 into the Consumer Welfare Fund Rules, 2010 and for transfer of the unclaimed or unpaid amounts of unidentifiable consumers lying with respondents to Consumer Welfare Fund or a Suspense Account as well as for refund of the same and to disburse Rs. 5 crores out of the said amount to senior resident doctors of Safdarjung Hospital and to donate an additional sum of Rs....
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....ers throughout India; (e) Issue writ of prohibition directing the appropriate government to credit all public money into the account of Consumer Welfare Fund which is not meant for Consolidated Fund of India; (f) Issue writ of mandamus directing the appropriate government to enact Consumer Welfare Fund Act, 2010 in terms of clause (k) of sub-section (1) of Section 19 (Powers and functions of Central Authority to advise the Ministries and Departments of the Central and State Governments on consumer welfare measures) of the CPA, 2019; (g) Issue writ of mandamus directing respondents to file their responses with regard to total unclaimed amount of consumers amount which is lying with them till today in the absence of....
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....n, he relies upon judgment of the Supreme Court in Mafatlal Industries Ltd. and Others Vs. Union of India and Others, (1997) 5 SCC 536. 5. The Petitioner also strongly feels that legislative void to deal with the aspects highlighted in the petition, should persuade us to accept the petition. He profusely relies upon several vital Articles of the Constitution of India, including but not limited to Articles 14, 19 and 21. In addition to the above, the preamble of the Constitution is also cited in an effort to lay emphasis on the importance of the issue sought to be canvassed in the petition. 6. However, we feel that reliance on the provisions of the Constitution alone cannot justify the maintainability of a petition. In our view, a writ....
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.... either legislate or convert bills/acts into rules or to disburse amounts to certain hospitals or for certain causes, howsoever genuine they may be. 8. Further, the judgment in Mafatlal Industries Ltd. and Others (supra) has no application to the facts of the present case as it pertains to certain categories of refund only and it is not the case of the petitioner that the said judgment has been violated by the respondents in any manner whatsoever. The Central Excise and Salt Act, 1944 was amended in 1991 to enable the Central Government to create a Consumer Welfare Fund (CWF) where the money which is not refundable to the manufacturers, etc. is being credited. Likewise, after the advent of GST laws, Consumer Welfare Fund has been setu....
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....ith wider powers and control. Petitioner also suggests introducing a fresh legislation- 'Consumer Welfare Fund Act.' Firstly, we are unable to comprehend the basis for Petitioner's assumption that the funds in the hands of the institutions and the Government department are in jeopardy. Secondly, in our view, Banks, Insurances Companies, Post offices etc are all regulated and governed by their own set of rules. The Reserve bank of India and the provisions under the Banking Regulation Act would govern the bank and likewise IRDA would have the control over the Insurance Companies and that would take care of the unclaimed amounts of the policy holders. Further, the apprehension of misuse of unclaimed and unpaid refund as well as amounts lying w....
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.... garner sympathy from a court of law, however sincere it may be, cannot infuse the legal strength that is required for us to issue notice. The preferential treatment sought for the Safdarjung Hospital may not be founded on any bias, as indisputably the said Institution is presently doing great service to the nation, but we have no criteria to make a distinction for any one hospital. Significantly, the utilization of the funds is not a function that the courts are equipped to decide. 13. We would also like to note that the Petitioner had earlier approached this court by way of a similar petition being W.P (C) No. 1624 of 2019. Apparently, the said petition was also half-baked, lacking content and structure, prompting the court to turn ....