SC invokes Article 142, shifts consumer cases to High Courts in states with low pendency

The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday invoked its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to direct certain High Courts to take over consumer dispute cases from State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions (SCDRCs) in states and Union Territories where the number of pending cases is exceptionally low.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said maintaining full-fledged state consumer commissions for a tiny caseload imposed an avoidable burden on the state exchequer and served little practical purpose. Article 142 empowers the apex court to pass any order necessary to ensure “complete justice”, even in situations where statutory provisions are silent or inadequate.

The court was hearing pleas from several states that flagged extremely low pendency in their consumer forums, with some commissions reportedly remaining non-functional for over a year due to the absence of judicial members. States and UTs such as Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Goa, Mizoram, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported pendency ranging from 15 to 60 cases .

In some states, including Sikkim, Manipur and Goa , the SCDRCs were functioning without a judicial member or president, raising doubts about their legal functioning. Observing that such arrangements could undermine consumer justice, the bench decided to transfer these cases to the respective High Courts.

The Supreme Court directed the Chief Justices of the concerned High Courts to assign a single experienced judge to hear and dispose of consumer complaints and appeals. The judge may take assistance from technical members of the consumer commissions, if available, and is expected to dispose of the matters preferably within three months .

State governments were asked to forward all records of the SCDRCs to the registrars general of the High Courts within three weeks . Appeals against consumer cases decided by High Court judges will lie before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission , to be heard by a bench headed by a judicial member.

Under the Consumer Protection Act , consumer disputes are ordinarily resolved through a three-tier system comprising district consumer commissions, SCDRCs and the NCDRC. On whether a similar approach should apply to district consumer forums facing low pendency, the court sought the assistance of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta before issuing further directions.