Consumer protection act’: banking as service

In the Protection of the consumers is an issue of paramount consideration in the modern economic world order. With globalization having permeated into all strata of the society the face of consumerism too has undergone a substantial change. However, it has been noted time and again that although consumer is portrayed as the cornerstone of a successful economy, there have been oft repeated incidents of exploitation of the consumers, leading to a constant urge of a panacea. 9 April, 1985 is a red letter day in the history of consumer protection movement as the United Nations General Assembly adopted general guidelines on Consumer Protection (General Assembly resolution 39/248). The Constitution of India, Article 38 directs the State to secure a social order for the protection and welfare of the citizens. Article 39(b) enjoins upon the state the duty to ensure that ownership and control of the resources are distributed with the objective of attaining common good. Many Acts like the Industries Development and Regulation Act 1951 was legislated with an objective to protect and regulate the development of the Industries as well as the interests of the consumers. The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 was enacted with the objective to ensure that the operation of an economic system did not result in the concentration of economic power, detrimental to the common interests. However, the year 1986 will always be considered to be the Magna Carta of consumer movement in India as the Consumer Protection Act,1986 (hereinafter the Act) was brought into force. The Act was to provide “for better protection of the interests of the consumers and to make provisions for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumers’ disputes and for matter connected therewith”. An important aspect of the Act is the fact that by defining consumer wide enough so as to include any person who buys goods for consideration or hires services but excludes those who obtain goods for resale or any commercial purpose; it acts in furtherance of its objective to protect the layman consumer who is otherwise helpless. In the landmark case of Luck now Development Authority v. M.K Gupta, the Hon’ble Supreme Court, speaking through Sahai J., noted that “The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 meets long felt necessity of protecting the common man from such wrongs for which the remedy under ordinary law for various reasons has become illusory. The importance of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 lies in promoting the welfare of the society by enabling the consumer to participate directly in the market economy. The enactment in the unbelievable yet harsh realities appears to be a silver lining which may in due course of time succeed in checking the rot.” Thus it can be undoubtedly stated that this benevolent social legislation aims at a speedy disposal of various consumer disputes by creating an efficient framework.