STATE OF KARNATAKA VS VISHWABARATHI HOUSE BUILDING CO-OP. SOCIETY

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

V.N.KHARE, K.G.BALAKRISHNAN, S.B.SINHA
STATE OF KARNATAKA – Appellant
Versus
VISHWABARATHI HOUSE BUILDING CO-OP. SOCIETY – Respondent

Counsel for the Appearing Parties :
Mr. P.P. Malhotra and Mr. H.W. Dhabe, Senior Advocates with Mr. Sajay R. Hegde, Mr. Satya Mitra, Mr. NDR Ramachandra Rao, Mr. R.S. Hegde for Mr. P.P. Singh, Mr. S.K. Kulkarni, Ms. Sangeeta Kumar, Mr. Hemant Sharma, Ms. Anil Katiyar, Mr. B.V. Balram Das, Mr. Anil Kumar Jha (NP), Ms. Hemantika Wahi (NP), Mr. S.S. Shinde, Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, Mr. Manoj Swarup (NP), Mr. Sushil Kumar Jain (NP), Mr. B.B. Singh (NP), Mr. K.S. Bhati (NP) Advocates.

Judgement Key Points

The court in this case held that Consumer Fora are not courts of equity; rather, they are statutory quasi-judicial bodies. The judgment emphasized that these bodies are created by legislation to provide inexpensive and speedy remedies to consumers, and they are not intended to replace or be equivalent to traditional courts of law, including courts of equity. Instead, they are meant to function as specialized tribunals with limited jurisdiction, endowed with certain judicial powers to facilitate consumer protection. The court clarified that these bodies are not courts of equity but are quasi-judicial authorities established under statutory provisions to perform specific functions within a defined legal framework.

JUDGMENT

S.B. Sinha, J.—The primal question involved in this batch of appeals and the Writ Petitions is the constitutionality of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (hereinafter called “the Act”).

2. Civil Appeal Nos. 4613 and 4614 of 1999 filed by Vishwabarathi House Building Co-operative Society arise out of a judgment and order dated 18.12.1998 passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka upholding the vires of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (the Act). State of Karnataka has filed the appeal being C.,A. No. 9927 of 1996 against the judgment and order of the Karnataka High Court questioning certain observations made therein as regards interpretation of Section 25 of the Act.

3. Dr. R.D. Prabhu and Shri B. Krishna Bhat and others filed the Writ Petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution of India questioning the constitutionality of the said Act.

4. The contentions raised on behalf of the appellants/petitioners are as under :

(1)(a) The Parliament is not empowered to establish hierarchy of Courts like the District Fora, State Commission and the National Commission parallel to the hierarchy of Courts established under the Constitution, namely, District Courts, High Cour

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V.N.KHARE, K.G.BALAKRISHNAN, S.B.SINHASTATE OF KARNATAKA – AppellantVersusVISHWABARATHI HOUSE BUILDING CO-OP. SOCIETY – Respondent

Cases Referred (12)

V.N.KHARE, K.G.BALAKRISHNAN, S.B.SINHA
STATE OF KARNATAKA – Appellant
Versus
VISHWABARATHI HOUSE BUILDING CO-OP. SOCIETY – Respondent