TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (7) TMI 1656
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....e period of limitation. 2. Considering the fact that the Consumer Forums are Tribunals which are vested with the powers to determine conclusively the rights of two or more contending parties with regard to any matter in controversy between them and being a purely judicial Tribunal and the matter arising out of revisional jurisdiction of the State Consumer Redressal Commission which would attract the power of superintendence under Article 227, this Court gave a suggestion to the learned Counsel for the Petitioner that it would be appropriate for the Petitioner to file a Civil Miscellaneous Main (CMM) Petition, which is the appropriate course while approaching this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. However, the learned Counsel for the Petitioner declined the suggestion of this Court and contended that since the present Writ Petition is a composite petition under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the same is maintainable. 3. At this juncture, it is pertinent to mention that under Article 226 of the Constitution of India this Court holds Original Jurisdiction and under Article 227 of the Constitution of India this Court holds Appellate Jurisdic....
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....ibunal" finds place in Article 227 of the Constitution also, and I think that there also the word has the same meaning as in Article 136." 5. Instead of filing the present Petition as a CMM, the Petitioner has chosen to file the present Writ Petition under Articles 226 & 227 of the Constitution of India for the reason that an LPA would not be maintainable against an Order passed by this Court in CMM. In order to avoid further delay, this Court, in the present Writ Petition, has also examined the case on merits as well. 6. The facts of the case reveal that Respondent No. 1 herein filed a Consumer Complaint Case No. 113/2022 against the Petitioner herein before the District Commission on 19.09.2022. On 16.11.2022 summons was issued by the District Commission in the said complaint case. Admittedly, the summons was received by the Petitioner on 23.12.2022. It is stated that the documents received by the Petitioner on 23.12.2022 were incomplete. On the basis of the documents received by the Petitioner herein, a written statement was filed by the Petitioner on 31.01.2023. Though the Written Statement was objected to by the learned counsel for the Respondent No. 1 herein before the ....
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....vent plea, application in respect of OP1 is dismissed." 7. The District Commission refused to condone the delay of seven days in filing the Written Statement because of the false case put up by the Petitioner herein. The Petitioner herein thereafter challenged the Order passed by the District Commission by filing a Revision Petition under Section 47B of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, before the State Commission. The State Commission vide its Order dated 12.12.2023 found that there was no material irregularity in the Order dated 04.07.2023 and refused to exercise its revisional jurisdiction. It is this Order which has been challenged by the Petitioner in the present Writ Petition. 8. The Petitioner has filed a screenshot of conversation between the Petitioner and the Respondent No. 1 herein to demonstrate that the entire copy of the complaint along with all the annexures was not received by the Petitioner on 23.12.2022 and it was only handed-over to the counsel for the Petitioner before the District Commission only on 31.01.2023. The Whatsapp chats are reproduced herein and the same reads as under: 9. The District Commission examined the matter in great detail. It calle....
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....9 and the same reads as under: "38. Procedure on admission of complaint.- **** (2) Where the complaint relates to any goods, the District Commission shall,- (a) refer a copy of the admitted complaint, within twenty-one days from the date of its admission to the opposite party mentioned in the complaint directing him to give his version of the case within a period of thirty days or such extended period not exceeding fifteen days as may be granted by it;......" 13. A reading of the abovementioned Section would show that the period of filing a written statement after receiving the copy of the complaint is 30 days and the same can be extended up to fifteen days if the District Commission deems it fit to do so. In the present case, the summons was issued on 17.12.2022 and it was received by the Petitioner herein on 23.12.2022 and the period of 30 days got over on 21.01.2023. The Petitioner filed its Written Statement only on 31.01.2023 and raised a plea that it has not received a complete set of documents along with the summons when, in fact, a complete set of documents has been served to the Petitioner along with the summons as is evident from the weigh....