In Ambrish Kumar Shukla & 21 Ors v Ferrous Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, the full bench of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) recently held that a complaint under section 12(1)(c) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, is maintainable only if there are numerous consumers who have the same interest, the permission of the consumer forum, and notice is given in terms of rule 8(2) of order I of the Code of the Civil Procedure. Holding that it is not necessary that the cause of action of all consumers is the same, the NCDRC said “what is required is sameness of the interest and not the same cause of action”.
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The NCDRC observed that the purpose of giving statutory recognition to class action complaints was to avoid the multiplicity of litigation. It also clarified that the NCDRC would have the pecuniary jurisdiction to entertain a complaint if the aggregate of the value of the goods purchased or the services hired or availed of by the numerous consumers on whose behalf or for whose benefit the complaint is filed and the total compensation claimed for all of them exceeds ₹10 million (US$150,000).
The NCDRC observed that more than one complaint on behalf of consumers having the same interest under section 12(1)(c) of the Consumer Protection Act is not maintainable. In such cases the first complaint instituted will continue and the remaining complaints are liable to be dismissed with liberty to join in the complaint instituted first.
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The dispute digest is compiled by Bhasin & Co, Advocates, a corporate law firm based in New Delhi. The authors can be contacted at lbhasin@bhasinco.in or lbhasin@gmail.com. Readers should not act on the basis of this information without seeking professional legal advice.
