The State Commission

Review and appeal

Section 50: review. The State Commission may review any of its orders if there is an error apparent on the face of the record, of its own motion or on an application by a party within thirty days.

Section 51: appeal. Any person aggrieved by an order made by the State Commission in the exercise of its original jurisdiction, that is, under sub-clause (i) or (ii) of clause (a) of section 47(1), may appeal to the National Commission within thirty days, in the prescribed form and manner. The National Commission shall not entertain a late appeal unless satisfied of sufficient cause. An appellant required to pay any amount must deposit fifty per cent of it.

Note two contrasts with the District Commission. The appeal period is thirty days here and forty-five days from a District Commission under section 41. And the appeal lies only from the State Commission's original orders, not from its appellate orders; against those the remedy is revision by the National Commission under section 58(1)(b), or a writ petition, as chapter [Judicial Review of the Consumer Commissions] explains.

Section 52: hearing of appeal. An appeal is to be heard as expeditiously as possible, with an endeavour to dispose of it within ninety days of admission, and an adjournment may be granted only for reasons recorded in writing.

A worked example

A builder is ordered by a District Commission to refund Rs. 30 lakh with interest.

The builder's appeal lies to the State Commission under section 41, within forty-five days, and he must first deposit fifty per cent of the amount ordered.

A buyer whose flat cost Rs. 90 lakh files his complaint in the State Commission itself, because the consideration exceeds fifty lakh and does not exceed two crore.

A buyer whose agreement contains a clause allowing the builder to cancel at will may complain of an unfair contract; where the consideration does not exceed ten crore, that complaint too is within the State Commission's original jurisdiction.

If the District Commission had decided a complaint worth three crore, it would have exercised a jurisdiction not vested in it, and the State Commission may call for the record and set the order aside in revision.

If the State Commission makes an obvious error in the figures, review under section 50 within thirty days.

If the State Commission decides the ninety lakh complaint against the buyer, his appeal lies to the National Commission under section 51 within thirty days, with the fifty per cent deposit if he has been ordered to pay.

What it does NOT mean

The State Commission is not only an appellate body. It has original, appellate and revisional jurisdiction.

An appeal does not lie from every order. Section 51 covers orders in original jurisdiction.

Review is not a rehearing. It is confined to an error apparent on the face of the record.

The printed figures are not the operative ones.

Quick revision

1. Section 42: a State Commission in every State, a President and not less than four members, with regional Benches possible.
2. Section 47(1)(a)(i): original jurisdiction, printed as one crore to ten crore, prescribed as fifty lakh to two crore.
3. Section 47(1)(a)(ii): unfair contracts where the consideration does not exceed ten crore.
4. Section 47(1)(a)(iii): appeals from District Commissions in the State.
5. Section 47(1)(b): revision on three grounds, jurisdiction not vested, failure to exercise jurisdiction, and illegality or material irregularity.
6. Section 50: review for an error apparent on the face of the record, within thirty days.
7. Section 51: appeal to the National Commission within thirty days from orders in original jurisdiction, with a fifty per cent deposit.
8. Section 52: appeals to be decided within ninety days as far as possible.

Test yourself

1. What is the jurisdiction of the State Commission? Threefold. Original jurisdiction under section 47(1)(a)(i) over complaints where the value of the goods or services paid as consideration exceeds the lower prescribed limit but does not exceed the upper one, the section printing one crore to ten crore and rule 4 of the Rules of 2021 prescribing fifty lakh to two crore, and under sub-clause (ii) over complaints against unfair contracts where the consideration does not exceed ten crore rupees. Appellate jurisdiction under sub-clause (iii) over the orders of any District Commission within the State. And revisional jurisdiction under clause (b) to call for the records of and pass orders in any dispute pending before or decided by a District Commission in the State, where that Commission has exercised a jurisdiction not vested in it by law, has failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested, or has acted in the exercise of its jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity. Its jurisdiction may be exercised by Benches, the senior-most member presiding.

2. Compare the appeal from a District Commission with the appeal from a State Commission. An appeal from a District Commission lies to the State Commission under section 41, on grounds of fact or law, within forty-five days, and the State Commission may condone delay for sufficient cause; an appellant ordered to pay must deposit fifty per cent of the amount, and no appeal lies from an order recording a mediation settlement under section 81(1). An appeal from a State Commission lies to the National Commission under section 51, but only against orders made in the exercise of its original jurisdiction under sub-clause (i) or (ii) of section 47(1)(a), within thirty days, again subject to condonation for sufficient cause and to a deposit of fifty per cent. The consequence is that an order made by a State Commission in appeal is not itself appealable: the remedy against it is the National Commission's revisional power under section 58(1)(b), or a petition under article 226 or 227.