The SC holds joint complaint on behalf of consumers maintainable.

 

Supreme Court of India 

Justice R SUBHASH REDDY & Justice MOHAN M. SHANTANAGOUDAR]

It was held by the SC {Monu Kumar & Ors. v. M/s. Metromax Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.} that as complaint was filed on behalf of number of individual consumers, an application was filed seeking permission to file joint complaint and after hearing the arguments of the learned counsel, case was admitted and notice was issued. Further held that though expressly it is not stated that permission is granted in the application seeking permission to file joint complaint, but in view of the fact that admission of the complaint is recorded in the order dated 27.11.2015 and notice was issued the permission is to be read as inherent in the order of admission. When the specific application was moved seeking permission for filing joint application and having passed order of admission by issuing notice on such application, the Commission ought not to have rejected the application by the impugned order. The grant of permission is to be read inherently into the order dated 27.11.2015.

In the present case, the complaint was filed under Section 12(1)(c) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short, ‘the Act’), by number of consumers having the same interest, they sought permission to file a joint complaint by filing separate application.

Accordingly, the impugned order was set aside by the SC, and the matter was remitted back to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi with a direction to consider the matter afresh and dispose of the complaint case on its own merits.