Firms will have to pay huge damages
Senior advocate Ravivarma Kumar resigned as Advocate General here on Monday, reportedly over the state government's decision to appoint two Additional Advocate Generals without consulting him
Hyderabad: All of a sudden there is a buzz about class action suits. The news that the term of the Parliamentary Standing Committee working on the Consumer Protection Bill 2015 has been extended till the coming Budget Session has drawn attention to the possibility of introducing class action suits in India. If everything goes as planned the Consumer Protection Bill 2015 could become law in 2016.
Class action suits allow any number of consumers to come together and sue a company for a defective product or service through a single lawsuit. Even if the case was filed by a single consumer who faced service deficiency others can join the case later. All consumers who filed the case need not appear in court for hearings. Instead they can be represented by a consumer group or a law firm. Class action suits originated in the US and it is very popular there.
The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, doesn't have provision for class action. It allows only individuals or organisations who suffered losses to approach consumer fora. Though the law has succeeded in establishing a consumer protection mechanism it was not powerful enough to check companies offering inferior products and services.
The introduction of class action can be a game changer as it will bring all the victims together, said V. Janardhan Reddy, assistant registrar of Telangana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. “This provision will lead to considerable improvement in the quality of products and services as companies will have to factor in large scale class action suits,” he explained.
According to him, the other changes proposed by the bill are quite radical and consumer litigation in India will go to the next level. The new bill holds the manufacturer liable for any damage caused to consumers due to defect in its goods and services. It proposes to establish the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) with interventional powers, increase the pecuniary limit of district forums and also the number of members in different consumer fora.
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
Next Story
