Consumer Forums Are Not The Forum To Deal With Fraud Cases - SC

Recently, the Supreme Court reminded us that consumer forums cannot handle cases that involve a lot of disagreement about the facts or cases that involve wrongdoing, like fraud or cheating. Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi explained that consumer forums are meant to handle simpler cases where the issue is whether a service was provided properly. The law says that the complainant has to prove that there was a problem with the service. The consumer forum can't just assume that there was a problem without evidence.

In this case, someone complained that City Union Bank had sent ₹8 lakh to the wrong account. The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) found the bank at fault for not providing good service and ordered them to pay ₹8 lakh to the person who made the complaint. The SCDRC also told the bank to pay ₹1 lakh to cover the person's mental stress, loss, and difficulties.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) agreed with the SCDRC, but the bank did not agree and took the matter to the Apex Court. The Supreme Court said that the problem was that the people involved couldn't agree on who should get the money, and there were allegations of fraud. Consumer forums are not the forum to deal with fraud cases, the Supreme Court said.

The Supreme Court also decided that the bank did not do anything wrong on purpose. There was no "willful default or imperfection or shortcoming" by the bank officials, they said. The Top court set aside the orders of the NCDRC and SCDRC orders.