Filing a case in Consumer Forum

Hello there,

You will have to file the case in appropriate consumer forum(national , state , district).

Write down your grievances in the form of a complaint together with all the neccessary documents and submit it to the registry.Your case will be numbered and will be sent to the defendant.later on both of you will have to file the proof affidavit and version etc etc. Lastly both of you will be heard by the president of the forum.

It is a very time consuming process.though the act says it provides a speedy remedy.

For further details read the consumer protection act.

Hope this helps.

All the best

In order to file a consumer complaint there is a fee of Rs.100/- to be paid in the form of demand draft in favour of "President, concerned consumer forum.  You have to file with the district consumer forum having jurisdiction over the area in which the party complained against have their address. If the party has many offices or branches, one can file with the consumer forum most convenient to one provided the opposite party has office or branch in that area.

My own experience is that consumer fora are very fast provided one knows how to draft the complaint. The relief sought from the forum also should be clearly stated.

Dear all, I must add my experience too with the District Consumer Forum at Lucknow (U.P).I had a case with Canara Bank where in the year 2005 my FCNR deposits were treated with disdain and was awarded the compensation in the year 2008 but the bank did not honour the decision, however after almost three years RC was issued but without any outcome so far and the reasons are:

1) I hired a lawyer to help me out since I was not staying in India.

2) By ignorance I submitted the application in English and there was no translator provided by the state, hence re-submission.

3) A member retired meanwhile and there was no budget for the new appointment.

4) The DCF shfted to the new premises and it took almost six months to transfer all the documents.

5) I am still abroad thereby these bottlenecks.

6) The heavens predicted in the law are good in taste which helps in day-dreaming atleast otherwise this is simply like many other courts in India so common man should not start dreaming it as a boon to the victims but atleast a platform has been provided for consumer's redressal.

I wrote about my experience in Mumbai in Maharashtra. There is lot of difference between UP, Bihar (probably Bihar is getting better under Nitish Kumar) and the Western and Southern States. The writ of the law does not run in UP and other North Indian States. Making Hindi the official language has made things worse for the Hindi speaking States. Though Hindi is the optional official language, under the Constitution, English is the language of judicial system in India. A lawyer or a judge not knowing English is like a Vedic scholar not knowing Sanskrit. Under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, the proceedings in a District Consumer Court can be in Hindi, English or the State language. But it is compulsory to give a copy of the judgment in English even by a court in the interior of any State. In September, 2010 I had to file a complaint in a consumer court in Mumbai. Within one week there was an order from the State Commission that the proceedings in all district consumer courts had to be compulsorily in Marathi only. I was virtually taken aback. I had already filed my complaint in English and thankfully the consumer court had admitted it. I was waiting for the reply from the opposite party. Now with the State order the Opposite Party would give reply in Marathi and if I had to rebut the reply, I will not only have to understand the Opposite Parties’ affidavit, but I would have to give my own counter affidavit also in Marathi. I wrote a letter of complaint to the National Commission saying that the Maharashtra order was against Article 350 of the Constitution of India. In a couple of weeks bang came the order from the National Commission to the State Commission that proceedings in the District Fora could be in English, Hindi or Marathi. I could proceed with the case and the final order in my favour came in January, 2011.  Article 350 of the Constitution of India is applicable to UP also. But who respects law there? Still, any appeal or accompanying judgment of the State Commission in UP to the National Commission would have to be in English only and not Hindi.

Outside the Hindi speaking States any complaint in a consumer court, which does not require any laboratory testing and evidence is simple, is settled fast if the complaint is made in the proper manner. I do not engage a lawyer for my complaints.

Dear Dr.Ramani, Thanx for the information but I was bit disappointed on your sarcasm against the so-called COW BELTS.Are you the follower of india's Home Minister P.Chidambram who rediculed the Hindi speaking region before the USA dignitory?

How you could abhor my mother tongue?My idea of informing each individual through this column was to aprise them about different system in different scenerios and share the views.

Have pride in one's lingua franca which I suppose you may be SINDHI speaking gentleman.Sindhi or Hindi is the official language of India.Do we have to learn from Bangladesh and Pakistan about the National Language?Instead of imparting knowledge you have indulged yourself in demonising between North,South,East and West.

I still say Consumer's case is just at par with cases in criminal or civil courts and it takes decade to decide a very simple dispute in all the courts in India.

By the way where in India disputes are resolved without any laboratory test or evidences, if so required?

I request you to please abandon this attitude of redicule as it doesn't behove well on such an literate( NOT EDUCATED) person  having Doctorate in Technology.

Regards

Dear Mr. Om Prakash Dhusia:

I said nothing about Hindi as a language. In fact I studied Hindi during my school days [Hindi was not taught in my school then], just because I believed that Hindi was also my language.

What I stated was that the writ of the law doesn’t run in UP and Bihar. I hear that Bihar is improving after Nitish Kumar became Chief Minister. Before, people could not go out after sunset, for fear of being robbed or killed. Certainly women would not dare to go. Jharkhand was formerly a part of Bihar. It is so rich in minerals that it could have been the richest State in India. More than 100 years ago the Tatas put up what was then India’s largest steel plant. But if you go to Jamshedpur or Dhanbad you will see only squalor. The economy of the region is choked by mafia. Roads are worse than even any other village in India.

Once I made a train reservation from Lucknow. I thought that when the train came, I could comfortably get in and occupy my berth. But when the train actually arrived the compartment was looking like a crowded unreserved compartment. I complained to the ticket examiner. But he could do nothing.

I have attached Articles 348 and 350 from the Constitution of India. Article 348 says that English shall be the authoritative language for all legal matters.  Section 24B (ii) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 stipulates furnishing of English Translation of all judgments by the Forum, if the original was in any other language. I have visited Kanpur, Lucknow and Varanasi. Educated people there do and can speak English. Business correspondence comes to us from UP and we reply in English.

I am retired from Government service. I had at least 20 highly qualified engineers from UP only. They all respected and had high regard for me. Our families also often met. Some of them remember my date of birth and send me greetings every year. They all knew that I never discriminated between them and others from other parts of the country. One of them in the invitation for his son’s marriage added my name also under RSVP. They also knew that UP and Bihar was backward compared to other parts of the country.

As per Article 348 the legal fraternity in India should be well versed in English. Your lawyer must have known English. The President of the Forum would be from the judiciary and certainly would know English. Other members of the Forum would also know English. Canara Bank does transactions mainly in English. Then what was the problem in entertaining your complaint in English? Did they not know Article: 350 and that under the article they could not say No to English?  All this shows either lack of knowledge of law even by the legal fraternity or just not caring for the law.

If what I say hurts you, it hurts me too, because I am proud that I have the same constitutional rights as much in Bihar or UP as in any other part of the country.

A step by step time table and a time limit are stipulated for disposal of cases under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and mostly they adhere to that

Mr.Ramani,Thanks for the clarifications but first of all I must request you that we should all have respect for our own mother tongue.Be it Sindhi,Hindi,Tamil,Gujrati,Malayalam,Urdu,Pashto or any other language and I am sure that English is not a mother tongue of any Indian.Since we have been slaves of British for many decades, we have started imagining ourselves to be BLACK ANGREJ and feel proud to converse in English.There is sence of ELITE and feel proud of knowing this language which is just an Language like many others.

The Canara bank though has its head office in Karnatka but I was ashamed of being a Hindi speaker for their reply in chaste Hindi and it was not because I belong to U.P. but because they have the policy of replying in dialect of their customers while I being a Hindi speaker sent them my mail in English.

When we argue for something we start quoting the rules, laws and the Contitutional rights confer on its netizens but forget about the truth that we bend those in our favors.But my question is Why we must have the constitutional right in only English and why not the languages recognised by the  same Indian constitution and what about the 75% of the citizens of India who are not in the know how of this language?

And as per crime rate  of any civilised country, I must remind you that it is the breed of civilisation and no state of India can claim to be free of crime.Have you ever seen the condition in outgoing trains at Mumbai where general bogey seats are sold on premium under the very nose of law controlling authority, the safaiwala charges money without receipt from the users at public toilet at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, where Non-marathi speakers are robbed of their right to live and earn livelihood.Talk of Karnatka, the writ of Late actor Raj Kumars's runs large and individual is expected to speak only Kannad, come to Tamil Nadu where speaking Hindi is a worst crime ofcourse you are respected highly to speak in English,Go to Assam, where any non-assamese is consider as  traitor of the state and done to death, come to West Bengal where they claim if Bengali doesn't know something then that don't exist in the world.Are these not crime?

Say for court cases, you may be aware that it has some procedure, no matter even if you are 100% innocent, you can not claim as you wish but only when you are asked for and that would be after the proccedings from the prosecution have been concluded and it takes years to do so.Constitutionally an accused is deemed INNOCENT unless proved GUILTY but does it so? You have to prove that you are innocent otherwise in the eyes of public, police, court, judge and the audience you are a serial criminal. Consumer's Forums of any state or district is no exception either.

Please dont be racist be nationalist but not to the extent of depriving others of their rights of being HUMANS.

Regards

Where to go ?

in district consumer court!

Sarvesh K Sharma: Dear I  think you have opted for the wrong profession, why not join some circus where your talent would be exposed to the hilt. You have simply wasted your parent's hard earned money to study Law. The topic was not related to you at all and it was between me and Mr. Ramani and I suppose better place for you to go to h..l because you have never been serious in this column so why disturb others with your nasty and un-warranted comments?You dont have respect for the ladies even and poke your nose in their valuable compositions or collections submitted for others to go through, you have been indulging in name game and I saw your comments about MISHRA Ji where you used unparliamentary remarks against UP wallas.Are you a racist or maniac and why people like you have been made to play pranks on others.I dont think  you are a court jester either?You may have the wrong impression about you that you are smart but remember this world is full of smarters so if you don't like the topic behave like others.

Advocate Rajeev has already answered the question of Mr.S. K. Sharma. Is there any further question?

Dear Mr. Om Prakash Dhusia

I am giving below what another Hindi-speaking person said in his post in the Forum sometime back and my response to what he said.

“

Ram Samudre-DRF [NSSD-UOI]

[See my Blog for NSSD-UOI] Founder - President, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Democratic Rights Forum (DRF) (Foundation for Social Justice and Constitutional Awareness for Trial of Public Service) email at drf.india@gmail.com - Twitter;democrats_forum

“I studied in Sagar MP and all in Hindi Medium. I also read Hindi literature and I not only like it but also love it.  I am here in Mumbai since 1990. Here I come across English language and same love happened with it.  Moreover, I find that English is too easy language and expresses "To the point" especially legal matters.  In day to day conversation to each other in general also it is very nice language.  Though, I do not know any other foreign language, I would like to say that English language is really deserve to be the universal language.  

“Language is not only for conversation but it also expands mental level.  The English language is the most used language in the world and so opens the doors of world.  Instead of insisting for local languages if we spread awareness in illiterate and poor villagers to learn and use the English language I think they will start concerning themselves with news and will also be able to express their view on the issues which are concerned with their day to day life and their living standard will also start coming up.  It is also in our national interest as a Union of India as the people will never give attention to unnecessary clashes of religion, castism, language, regional, race, class or gender based differences.

“I would like to have a ONE LANGUAGE FOR WORLD and EQUALITY IN HUMANITY and the English language can take a good part for it.

“There should be no shame in accepting good things just only for the reason that someone else has invented it.  If any one language is required for entire Union of India, which can bring all the peoples of Union of India from north to south and east to west, is can be none other than the English language.  We should also remember that ENGLISH ENTERED IN INDIA AND THE KINGDOM OF SWARD BEARING RAJAs/MAHARAJAs have to go out with their sword and India became a DEMOCRATIC UNION OF INDIA which is now an educated India having Universities and other educational institutions in every field.  English language creates education and throws out illiteracy.  So, to have better Union of India it is necessary to defeat illiteracy and so if the English language accepted as the NATIONAL LANGUAGE OF UNION OF INDIA the anti-social forceswho like to keep the people illiterate for fighting with unnecessary issues of religion, caste, language, region, class, gender based discrimination etc.,  will also be defeated and people will have a more peaceful and good life.

“So, please think for accepting the English language as THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF UNION OF INDIA and try to spread in people like a national language in entire area of union territory from north to south and east to west.

“Dr. MPS RAMANI Ph.D.[Tech]

Scientist/Engineer



[ Scorecard : 432]

“ I came to Mumbai [then Bombay] for the first time in 1950 and more or less Mumbai is my home since 1952.  I was thinking that they would be speaking Marathi in the then Bombay.

 “In Bombay first I went to college and then entered job. In college as also in job I could very well carry on with English only. But whenever I moved around in the city I found that I needed Hindi and not Marathi. It is so even to this day though the policeman will speak only Marathi. In job also I needed Hindi when communicating with workers and I found workers from South India including Tamilnadu were speaking Hindi. They did not know English.

“For many years I found the knowledge of English was sufficient to live in Mumbai. But things have gradually changed. Now I find whenever I receive a phone call, the person on the other side speaks Hindi. When I make a phone call, the person on the other side does not understand, if I do not speak Hindi. At work also nowadays even engineers, who studied through English Medium are comfortable with Hindi only.

 “Let us not decide or break our heads on which language should be common language in India. Let the language that merits use finds its own place. I mean “Meritocracy”.

“ As for Mr. Rajiv the legal language of India under the Constitution is English and not any other language. In case of any conflict in interpretation between an Indian Language version and English version, the latter shall prevail. As a lawyer Mr. Rajiv should have already known this”

If you were so much in love with your mother-tongue, you should not have complained against the Consumer court. The consumer court has a set time table. (1) Filing of the complaint by the Complainant. (2) Hearing the Complainant within 15 days and decide whether the Complaint should be accepted or rejected. (3) If the complaint is accepted send notice to the Opposite Party and give him 30 days to reply. If he asks for more time give him a maximum of another 15 days and simultaneously fix the next date of hearing. (4) Hear both the parties on the date fixed for hearing. (5) Deliver judgment within a week. Whenever I lodged a complaint I filed all the supporting documents along with the complaint and mostly the case gets decided as per the schedule. Though as per the Act, a case can be decided ex-parte, if one or both the parties are absent at a hearing, generally the court gives one more chance.  

I do not know whether there are people who do not know Hindi, or at least legal Hindi in Lucknow. You wrote about the animosity of Kannadigas against non-Kannadigas, Tamilians against non-Tamils, Bengalis against non-Bengalis etc.  In Mumbai no language group is in majority. Even Marathi-speaking people are much less than 50%. Until 1956 there was no discrimination against other linguistic groups. The States Reorganization Commission released its report for the reorganization of all states in 1956. But the then Bombay State comprising Maharashtra and Gujarat was left as it was. The Samyukhtha Maharashtra Samiti started an agitation and there was rioting at Flora Fountain. Morarji Desai, a Gujarati happened to be the then the Chief Minister of Bombay. There was police firing and some people died. The Marathi chauvinism then started. Delhi is the capital of India and no linguistic group can claim Delhi as only their city. Mumbai is said to be the financial capital of India. Then how can any particular linguistic group claim the city as their own?  Even otherwise, one India means every part of the country belongs to every Indian.

When our Constitution was framed English was to be the Official Language of the Union for 15 years only. Thereafter Hindi was to take the place of English. In January 1965, Mr. Bhakta Darshan, Minister wrote to all the States that after the Republic Day all Government correspondence would be in Hindi only and no English. There was a flare-up in Tamilnadu. Many young people committed self-immolation. There were riots and demonstrations all over the State. Many people were killed in police firing. Things were going out of control. Lal Bahadur Shastri, then Prime Minister came on the radio and declared that Hindi would not be imposed on anyone and until all the linguistic groups accept, English will continue to be the Official Language. At the next general elections in 1967 Congress lost the then Madras State. In Tamilnadu the Party never came to power thereafter.

As I wrote in my earlier posting, in September, 2010 the President of the State Consumer Commission, a retired High Court Judge, issued an order that thereafter Marathi would be the only language that could be used in the District Consumer Fora. The reason stated by him was that salaries of the President and other staff of the Fora were paid from the State treasury. What did he mean by that? Non-Marathi speaking people in the State do not pay taxes or what? It was to protect linguistic minorities from such Tuglakian orders the founding fathers had inserted with foresight Article: 350 in the Constitution. So do not blame the Constitution. If you were in Mumbai or Chennai you would also need its protection. Unity of the country is more sacrosanct than affinity to any particular language.

By the way, Canara Bank wrote to you in Hindi, not because of their consumer friendly attitude. It is Government of India order the all central government departments and public sector institutions should be bilingual in their transactions. Do you think that in Chennai they will write to their customers in Tamil?

Once I met a session’s judge from U.P.  He told me that they speak Telugu in Kerala. That much Hindi speaking people care for other Indian States and languages. That session’s judge’s samdi only added my name in his son’s marriage invitation.

Mr.Ramani. again I am thanksful for updating me about the issue in question but at any cost i would not buy the theory that English is the language spoken in 3/4 of the world.We at Gulf have been working with almost 60 to 70 nationalities and almost 50 to 55 nationalities do not converse in English and where in the Europe, most part of Asia, African continent people speak English? As I have alredy stated it is only we, the earstwhile slaves of Britishers do feel proud of speaking English and condemn our own mother tongue.It is mainly the commonwealth nations where English is the lingua franca but still it is not the language of common people and those who know this language consider them to be above others.

It is our bad luck that English has been mentioned the language of Law in my home country whereas in almost every Arabic speaking world, English is always at the backstage because they are proud of their mother tongue.You did not find any objection to English on being imposed on us but very averse to Hindi, spoken by atleast 2/3 of India.

I am not a commentator for Canara bank but they always corresponded with me in Hindi and I was very much impressed by them, it is as simple as that and Canara Bank is not having its Head office in the Hindi heartland but they have the respect for my mother tongue whereas none other bank ever use Hindi as their correspondance language.

Please dont quote examples of the people who have their own agenda but helping  their countrymen is never in their thoughts and who reside in their imaginative, isolated castles. I never heard of this gentleman called Ram Samudre. Is he Anna Hajare a down to earth simpleton , Swami Agnivesh,the social reformer,Medha Patekar, a social worker,Kiran Bedi, a passionate law crusador?if any of these noble creation of God has ever mentioned to be  English the only language of India, I would blindly follow them.

Thanks and regards.

Dear Mr. Om Prakash Dhusia:

Your para No.1:  This should have been addressed to Mr. Ram Samudre. But unfortunately the thread has been closed. I suggest that you write to him on his e-mail id. Or you can start a new thread on the question raised by him and invite his attention. As you know, I have given my response to him on the subject.

Your para No.2: The founding fathers of our Constitution wanted Hindi only to become the lingua franca of India. But they felt India was not ready for Hindi in 1950 and hence stipulated a time period of 15 years. At least now you know what happened at the end of the 15 year period. Before the British came, Urdu was the Official and legal language of the areas ruled by Muslim rulers. As far as India is concerned the concept of rule of the law was introduced by the British only. It was Lord Macaulay, who codified for the first time the criminal law in India. Later it was passed as an Act and called Indian Penal Code. We are having the same code even today. More than 90% of our present day laws were originally introduced by the British. All laws are subject to interpretation. If it is translated into other languages, it is likely different languages will give different interpretations for the same clause in a law. It was to avoid such confusion that luminaries like Dr. B. R. Ambedkar stipulated that the English version of the law alone shall be authentic. Of course it was not that they did not want Hindi to be the legal language of India. Now each State wants its own language only up to the High Court. Many cases will go from High Court to Supreme Court. Then what will happen? Tell me what would have been your response to the order of the President of Maharashtra State Consumer Commission that Marathi only shall be the language of consumer courts in Maharashtra. Hindi is not spoken by 2/3 of the population of India. Including Urdu it is spoken by 40% of the population. Even other Indian Languages of the Indo-European family are now turning away from Hindi. In Maharashtra you will see boards in Marathi and English only and no Hindi.

I told you what happened in 1965. If you were then the Prime Minister in place of Lal Bahadur Shastri, what would you have done?

Your para No.3: You were impressed with Canara Bank dealing with you in Hindi. I wrote to you the reason for that. I assure you that other public sector banks also do the same. All over the country even outside Hindi speaking areas, you can see sign boards in banks exhorting people to use Hindi in dealing with the bank. But what about those who speak other Indian Languages? Unko maro goli.

Your last para: My answer is same as that for your first para.

Before closing let me tell something that may please you. Once I had to go to Cairo on official business. Air India did my to and fro travel booking. However my return journey ticket was not confirmed. I was asked to get it confirmed after reaching Cairo. But the problem was all people there including Air India staff knew only Arabic. So I requested one of the staff at the Hotel desk to telephone Air India and get my ticket confirmed. He tried, but afterwards he told me that I would have to go to the Air India office. But without knowing Arabic what could I do? The desk clerk called one of the taxi drivers  waiting outside and told him something in Arabic. Then he asked me to go with him in his taxi. The taxi driver drove into the city, parked his taxi in a parking lot and asked me to accompany him. I went with him to Air India office. He took my ticket and spoke to them in Arabic. In reply they told him something. He in turn told me that we had to go to the office of Egyptair. He took me along with him and at the Egyptair office he handed over my ticket to them and told them something. After 10 minutes they returned the ticket and the taxi driver passed on the ticket to me and said in a smattering of English that my ticket was confirmed. Then he drove me back to the hotel and I paid him only the taxi-fare.  I cannot imagine a taxi driver in India do the same.