HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH Court No. - 4 Case :- MISC. BENCH No. - 9835 of 2015 Petitioner :- Prem Singh Respondent :- The State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission Lko.& Ors. Counsel for Petitioner :- Lalji Prasad Shukla Hon'ble Amreshwar Pratap Sahi,J.
Hon'ble Attau Rahman Masoodi,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner.
The petitioner prays for a mandamus for an early disposal of the appeal filed before the State Consumer Forum. The petitioner has relied on a Division Bench order in Writ Petition No. 511 (MB) of 2014: Bala Devi versus The State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, U.P. and others. dated 22.1.2014 to contend that such a direction for expeditious disposal of the appeal can be issued by this Court.
The status of a District Consumer Forum and a State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission which is hearing an appeal is to be gathered from the nature of the composition of such forum and the jurisdiction exercised by it. The District Consumer Forum is chaired by a person who has held the rank of a District Judge, whereas the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission is chaired by a person who has held the office of Judge of a High Court. It is thus, clear that these forums are chaired by the persons having occupied judicial offices. The Consumer Protection Act in sub-sections (4) to sub-section (7) of Section 13 clearly provides that the District Consumer Forum shall be deemed to be a civil court for the purpose of Section 195, and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The provisions of Code of the Civil Procedure, to the extent indicated therein, have been made applicable.
An appeal is preferred against any order passed by the District Consumer Forum to the State Commission. The State Commission has jurisdiction, powers and authority which are to be exercised by the Benches as constituted under Section 16. The jurisdiction under Section 17 is against appeals as also against the complaints where the value of the goods or services and compensation, if any, claimed exceeds rupees twenty lakhs but does not exceed rupees one crore.
The power to be exercised by the State Commission while deciding an appeal also indicates that all such powers are available in appeal which are available to the District Forum and, therefore, the status is that of the forums, which begins with the district level organisation, that has been described under Section 13 (5) as being a civil court. Consequently, the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission is the appellate court of the District Forum.
This being the position and the manner in which the State Commission is to function, we are clearly of the opinion that if a direction is required to be given for expeditious disposal of an appeal then the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission would also fall within the superintendence of the High Court under Article 227 of the Constitution of India. Consequently, a writ petition ought to be filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, which shall obviously be entertainable by a learned Single Judge.
The writ petition, therefore, is consigned to records with liberty to the petitioner to invoke the appropriate jurisdiction of this Court for redressal of any such grievance.
Order Date :- 26.10.2015 MFA/-
Court No. - 4Case :- MISC. BENCH No. - 9835 of 2015 Hon'ble Amreshwar Pratap Sahi,J.
Hon'ble Attau Rahman Masoodi,J.
The writ petition is consigned to record vide our orders of date on separate sheets.
Order Date :- 26.10.2015 MFA/-