The National Commission

Review, administrative control and appeal

Section 60: review. An order of the National Commission may be reopened by the Commission itself where the record discloses an error apparent on its face, either suo motu or at the instance of a party who applies in thirty days.

Under the Act of 1986 the National Commission had no general power of review, and the Supreme Court so held; the Act of 2019 gives all three Commissions the power, in sections 40, 50 and 60. That is a change worth stating in an answer.

Section 70: administrative control. The National Commission has authority to lay down adequate standards, to monitor the functioning of the State and District Commissions and to require periodical returns from them, which chapter [How a Complaint Is Decided] notes.

Section 67: appeal to the Supreme Court. Any person aggrieved by an order made by the National Commission in exercise of its original jurisdiction, under sub-clause (i) or (ii) of clause (a) of section 58(1), may appeal to the Supreme Court within thirty days. The Supreme Court may entertain a late appeal for sufficient cause, and an appellant required to pay any amount must first deposit fifty per cent of it.

So the statutory appeal to the Supreme Court is available only against what the National Commission decides at first instance. Where it has acted as an appellate or revisional forum, the dissatisfied party must fall back on the constitutional remedies, special leave under article 136 or a writ under article 226 or 227; chapter [Judicial Review of the Consumer Commissions] works those out.

Section 68: finality. Every order of a District Commission, State Commission or the National Commission is final if no appeal has been preferred against it under the Act.

The three tiers at a glance

A worked example

A buyer pays Rs. 3 crore for a commercial building sold as residential.

Where does he complain? The National Commission, since the consideration exceeds two crore.

If the builder loses and wants to appeal? To the Supreme Court under section 67 within thirty days, after depositing fifty per cent of what he was ordered to pay.

If instead the buyer had paid Rs. 1 crore, he would go to the State Commission; an appeal from its order would lie to the National Commission under section 51; and from the National Commission's appellate order there would be no appeal under section 67, so the remedy would be a petition under article 136 or a writ petition.

If a State Commission decides a complaint worth five crore, it has exercised a jurisdiction not vested in it, and the National Commission may act in revision under section 58(1)(b).

If the Central Authority orders a recall against the builder, his appeal lies to the National Commission under section 24, within thirty days.

What it does NOT mean

Not every order of the National Commission is appealable to the Supreme Court. Only orders in original jurisdiction under section 67.

The National Commission is not only a court. Section 70 gives it administrative control over the other Commissions.

Review is not new to Indian consumer law by accident. The Act of 2019 conferred it deliberately, in sections 40, 50 and 60.

The printed figure of ten crore is not the operative one.

Quick revision

1. Section 53: the National Commission, ordinarily in the National Capital Region, with regional Benches possible.
2. Section 54: a President and not less than four members.
3. Section 58(1)(a)(i): original jurisdiction above ten crore as printed, above two crore as prescribed; (ii) unfair contracts above ten crore; (iii) appeals from State Commissions; (iv) appeals from the Central Authority.
4. Section 58(1)(b): revision over State Commissions on the three grounds.
5. Section 60: review for an error apparent on the face of the record within thirty days; sections 40 and 50 give the same power to the other two Commissions.
6. Section 67: appeal to the Supreme Court within thirty days from orders in original jurisdiction, with a fifty per cent deposit.
7. Section 68: an order is final if no appeal is preferred under the Act.
8. Section 70: administrative control over the State and District Commissions.

Test yourself

1. What is the jurisdiction of the National Commission? Fourfold under section 58(1). Original jurisdiction over complaints where the value of the goods or services paid as consideration exceeds the prescribed amount, the section printing ten crore rupees and rule 5 of the Rules of 2021 prescribing two crore, and over complaints against unfair contracts where the consideration exceeds ten crore rupees. Appellate jurisdiction over the orders of any State Commission. Appellate jurisdiction over the orders of the Central Authority, which section 24 provides for within thirty days. And revisional jurisdiction to call for the records of and pass orders in any dispute pending before or decided by a State Commission which has exercised a jurisdiction not vested in it by law, failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested, or acted in the exercise of its jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity. Its jurisdiction may be exercised by Benches constituted by the President, the senior-most member presiding.

2. What appeals lie under the Act, and on what conditions? From a District Commission to the State Commission under section 41, on facts or law, within forty-five days. From a State Commission to the National Commission under section 51, but only against orders in its original jurisdiction, within thirty days. From the Central Authority to the National Commission under section 24, within thirty days. And from the National Commission to the Supreme Court under section 67, again only against orders in original jurisdiction, within thirty days. In each case delay may be condoned for sufficient cause, and in each case an appellant who has been ordered to pay any amount must first deposit fifty per cent of it. No appeal lies from an order recording a mediation settlement under section 81(1), and by section 68 an order is final if no appeal is preferred under the Act.

3. What is the significance of the power of review in the Act of 2019? Under the Act of 1986 the Commissions had no general power to review their own orders, so an order containing an obvious mistake, an arithmetical slip or an error apparent on the record, could be corrected only by appeal, which cost the parties time and money and clogged the higher fora. The Act of 2019 confers the power expressly at all three levels: section 40 on the District Commission, section 50 on the State Commission and section 60 on the National Commission, in each case where there is an error apparent on the face of the record, exercisable of the Commission's own motion or on an application by a party made within thirty days. It is not a rehearing, and it cannot be used to reargue the merits; its value is that a plain error can be put right by the forum that made it.