ORDER

1. Leave granted.

2. The appellant is an employee of the Railways. On the ground that his wife had been negligently treated in B.R. Ambedkar Hospital of the Central Railway (referred to as "the hospital") as a result of which she died, he filed a complaint under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") before the State Commission in Bombay. The State Commission came to the conclusion that the hospital had been set up to treat railway employees and the "predominant component" of the Railway Hospital was free service to the railway employees and not paid service to outsiders. The charges taken from the railway employees were nominal and were with reference to the maintenance charges of the hospital. Relying upon the decision of this Court in Indian Medical Assn. v. v.P. Shanthal the State Commission came to the conclusion that even if these charges were taken into consideration, the services rendered at the Railway Hospital would not come within the definition of "paid service" for the purposes of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and, therefore, the complaint of the appellant was not maintainable.

3. The National Commission upheld this view and