Haryana

Bhiwani

CC/241/2022

Brij pal - Complainant(s)

Versus

Rahul Narwal - Opp.Party(s)

Sanjay Aggarwal

23 Dec 2022

ORDER

                                         Brijpal Vs. Rahul Narwal.

Present:        Sh.Sanjay Aggarwal, Advocate for the complainant.

                     Today the case is fixed for consideration on the point of admissibility of complaint under Consumer Protection Act.  Through this complaint, complainant has sought relief against the opposite party for supplying documents under section 76 of Indian Evidence Act 1872. As per the complainant, he has paid the required fee to the opposite party for obtaining the required documents. Hence he is consumer of opposite party. Complainant has also placed reliance upon the  judgment dated 16.01.2022 of  District Consumer Disputes Redressed Commission, Jaselmer(Rajasthan) in case titled as Razia Mehar Vs. Village Development Officer, judgment dated 22.06.2022 of District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bikaner  in case titled as Narender Rajavat Vs. Commissioner, Department of Commerce  and order dated 04.07.2022 of  District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chhatterpur, M.P. titled as V.K.Tiwari  Vs. Collector, Distt. Chhatarpur.   But out of these judgments two are exparte judgments and are not applicable on the facts and circumstances of the present case.                    

                     Firstly we have to consider that whether the complainant is consumer of opposite party or not. In this regard, we will describe section 6,  7  & 42 of Consumer Protection Act 2019:

Section (6):

 "complaint" means any allegation in writing, made by a complainant for obtaining any relief provided by or under this Act, that— (i) an unfair contract or unfair trade practice or a restrictive trade practice has been adopted by any trader or service provider; (ii) the goods bought by him or agreed to be bought by him suffer from one or more defects; (iii) the services hired or availed of or agreed to be hired or availed of by him suffer from any deficiency; (iv) a trader or a service provider, as the case may be, has charged for the goods or for the services mentioned in the complaint, a price in excess of the price—

          (a) fixed by or under any law for the time being in force; or

(b) displayed on the goods or any package containing such goods; or

(c) displayed on the price list exhibited by him by or under any law for the time being in force; or

(d) agreed between the parties;

 (v) the goods, which are hazardous to life and safety when used, are being offered for sale to the public— (a) in contravention of standards relating to safety of such goods as required to be complied with, by or under any law for the time being in force; (b) where the trader knows that the goods so offered are unsafe to the public; (vi) the services which are hazardous or likely to be hazardous to life and safety of the public when used, are being offered by a person who provides any service and who knows it to be injurious to life and safety; (vii) a claim for product liability action lies against the product manufacturer, product seller or product service provider, as the case may be;

Section 7  :

 (7) "consumer" means any person who— (i) buys any goods for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment and includes any user of such goods other than the person who buys such goods for consideration paid or promised or partly paid or partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment, when such use is made with the approval of such person, but does not include a person who obtains such goods for resale or for any commercial purpose; or (ii) hires or avails of any service for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment and includes any beneficiary of such service other than the person who hires or avails of the services for consideration paid or promised, or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment, when such services are availed of with the approval of the first mentioned person, but does not include a person who avails of such service for any commercial purpose.

Section  42:

(42) "service" means service of any description which is made available to potential users and includes, but not limited to, the provision of facilities in connection with banking, financing, insurance, transport, processing, supply of electrical or other energy, telecom, boarding or lodging or both, housing construction, entertainment, amusement or the purveying of news or other information, but does not include the rendering of any service free of charge or under a contract of personal service.

                     After perusal of these sections,  it is observed that  in the definition of ‘service’ it has not been specifically  mentioned  that when a person apply to obtain some certified documents under section 76 of the Evidence Act 1876, comes under the definition of service as described in section 42 of service.  The service to supply documents does not come under the definition of service. Hence the complainant is not a consumer and is not entitled to file this complaint before this Commission for redressal of his grievances.    The Govt. of India has provided some other means for seeking the information or obtain the certified documents under Section 76 of the Evidence Act 1876 from the Govt. Departments such as Right to Information Act, Right to Service Act 2014 etc.   Hence the complaint filed by the complainant is not maintainable before this Commission and is hereby dismissed.

          Copy of this order be supplied to the complainant free of cost. File be consigned to the record room after due compliance.