Raiganj Counsumer Forums And Anr. vs The Member Secretary, Committee, ...
2006 Latest Caselaw 1441 Del

JUDGMENT

Anil Kumar, J.

1. The petitioner No. 1, which is society, which allegedly work for redressing the grievance of the consumers and to look after the consumer interest and other social activities in and around West Bengal has sought a writ of mandamus or direction to the respondent Nos. 1 to 4 to disburse the necessary funds in the nature of consumer welfare fund for its promotion and growth in terms of Consumer Welfare Fund Rules, 1992.

2. Petitioners contended that the petitioner No. 1 is a social benevolent organization having registered and working office at P.O. Raiganj, District, Uttar Dinajpur-733134, Mohanbati in the State of West Bengal and is registered under the Societies Registration Act, West Bengal having certificate No. S/761/2 of 1993-94 and continue to hold the same. The petitioner No. 2 is contended to be the Secretary of petitioner No. 1 elected by the members of the Society. The society allegedly works for redressing the grievance of consumers and to look after the consumers' interest and other social activities in and around West Bengal. It was established to remove day-to-day problems of consumers under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The activities of the society include filing cases before the District Forum of District Uttar Dinajpur and arranging group discussions among consumers and holding meetings creating awareness camps in rural areas in different districts of North Bengal.

3. Petitioners claim that in order to achieve its objective and to carry out its activities, it requires financial assistance as are available under the Consumer Welfare Fund Rules, 1992. Petitioners contended that they fulfilll all the eligibility criteria under the said rules and, therefore, they wrote a letter on 25th December, 2000 to the Secretary, Consumer Welfare Fund, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi, respondent No. 1 for grant of consumer welfare fund.

4. After filing the application for grant of consumer welfare fund, a number of reminders were sent for the grant of funds, however, all the attempts were alleged to remain in vain. Subsequently another application dated 18th May, 2002 was sent to respondents and in reply by a communication dated 19th June, 2002 it was communicated that the funds could be made available only to those applicants who had already undertaken activities in the field of consumer protection for a minimum period of three years.

5. Since the case of petitioners is that, it is carrying on activities since 1993-94 when it was registered, a letter dated 9th July, 2002 was sent explaining that the society is functioning since 1994. Petitioners also submitted an affidavit duly notarized before the Government of West Bengal which was communicated to the Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, vide letter dated 17th January, 2003.

6. Despite this the petitioner No. 1 has not been given funds and according to petitioners, the government authorities failed to apply their mind and have acted in high handedness causing utmost distress to the society by scuttling the disbursement of welfare funds and have thus violated provisions of Article 19(1)(g) and 300 and 301 of the Constitution. According to petitioners, no bonafide reasons have been given by the Government authorities for denying the lawful right and privileges to the petitioners.

7. Consequent to non-grant of consumer welfare fund, petitioners have filed the present petition contending that any money credited to the fund is to be utilized by the Central Government for the welfare of consumers in accordance with such rules as Government may make and since Consumer Welfare Fund Rules, 1992 were framed, respondents are under an obligation to utilize the consumer welfare fund and as the petitioners have duly complied with all the provisions of the said rules and in terms of Section 2(b) of said rules, the petitioner society is an applicant, the funds should be released to the petitioner society.

8. The claim of the petitioners is opposed by the respondents and an affidavit of Shri G.N.Sreekumara, Deputy Secretary, Development of Consumer Affairs, Government of India has been filed who has contended that no fundamental right of the petitioners have been violated. According to respondents, the application/proposal of the petitioner was rejected on 19th June, 2002 because the organization was not admissible as per CWF norms as they had not undertaken the consumer protection activities for the last three years. The application of the petitioners was processed in accordance with rules and as they did not fulfilll the eligibility criteria, the application was rejected. The other organizations which were given consumer welfare fund had fulfillled the eligibility criteria.

9. Before giving consumer welfare fund, the project proposal of the guarantee organization was examined in the Department as per the rules laid down in the guidelines and if prima facie considered eligible, were referred to State Government/District Collector for verification of the genuineness of the organization and only after the receipt of the report of the State Government, the proposal was put up for consideration/approval of the competent authority and thereafter sanction orders were passed. The respondents contended that Consumer Club Scheme has been decentralized and transferred to State Government and the State Government have also been advised to create their own consumer welfare fund and entertain applications for financial assistance.

10. The respondents have also produced a copy of the guidelines and rules for grant of financial assistance under Consumer Welfare Fund. Under the rules, the total quantum of assistance on an individual application is not to exceed Rs.5.00 lakh and assistance is limited to 90% of the approved cost. The assistance is granted for the purpose of production and distribution of literature and audio-visual material for spreading consumer literacy and awareness building programmes for consumer education; setting up facilities for training and research in consumer education and related matters on national/regional basis; community based rural awareness projects, setting up of complaint handling/counseling/guidance mechanisms; setting up Consumer Product Testing Laboratories; etc. Under Section 4 of the Consumer Welfare Fund Rules, 1992, the consumer organizations are required to provide separate accounts which are liable for audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

11. The application form for grant of consumer welfare fund filed by the petitioners reveals that in para 10, the details of expenditure item were given which are Rs.3,200/- per meeting and the petitioners have claimed amounts of 12 such meetings and thus a total amount of Rs.38,400/-. From the application, it is not apparent whether the petitioner had carried on any activity in the field of consumer protection for a minimum period of three years. Expenditure given was the proposed expenditure and not the expenditure incurred. Though a letter dated 9th July, 2002 was sent after the application dated 25th December, 2000 contending that the petitioners are giving services to the poor and innocent people of the District, however, no such details were given so as to infer that the society had done anything in the past three years. The petitioners have also filed an affidavit dated 17th January, 2003 giving the details of the funds received from the Ministry and organizations since 1999 which discloses that no funds of any type were received from any Ministry or organization, however, even in the said affidavit no such activity has been disclosed which had been carried out by the petitioners in the last three years.

12. learned Counsel for the petitioner is unable to show details of any activities by the petitioner society three years prior to filing of the application for grant of consumer welfare funds Beside the generic allegation that the petitioner society had been assisting various consumers in filing the cases in order to protect their interest and that the society had arranged group discussions among consumers and had held meetings creating awareness in rural area of different districts of North Bengal, no such particulars have been given. Since the respondents have taken a specific objection that the petitioners had not undertaken activities in the field of consumer protection for a minimum period of three years and as such they are not entitled for consumer welfare fund, it was for the petitioners to give the details and particulars of various cases alleged to have been filed in different consumer forums with their assistance and the details and particulars of group discussions and the meetings held by them in rural areas to negate or counter the denial of grant of consumer welfare fund on the ground that no activity had been carried out by the petitioner No. 1 society for three years.

13. Though the counter affidavit was filed by respondents on 7th February, 2006, no rejoinder was filed by the petitioner to disclose any consumer activity carried on by them three years prior to filing of the application or even thereafter.

14. Consequently, there is no material on record to infer that the petitioner society had undertaken activities in the field of consumer protection for a minimum period of three years so as to make themselves eligible for grant of financial assistance from the Consumer Welfare Fund. No other violation of the Consumer Welfare Fund Rules, 1992 has also been canvassed by the learned Counsel for the petitioners except that despite an application for grant of consumer welfare fund, the said amount has not been paid.

15. In totality of facts and circumstances, therefore, there is no ground to interfere and direct the respondents to release consumer welfare fund to the petitioners nor petitioners are entitled for a writ, order or direction directing the respondent Nos. 1 to 4 to disburse the necessary fund in the facts and circumstances.

16. The writ petition is, therefore, without any merit and is dismissed. However, the parties are left to bear their own costs.