IMPORTANT POINT
Selection Committee constituted for selection of Presidents of Consumer Disputes Redressal Forums cannot delegate any part of selection process to any other body and whole process of finalization of panel has to be completed by the Selection Committee itself.

Antony Dominic, J.—The prayer sought in this writ petition is to quash Ext P1 SRO No.148/08 dated 4th February 2008 appointing respondents 4 to 11 as Presidents of Consumer Disputes Redressal Forums in State. There is a further prayer to declare that the Selection Committee constituted by respondents 1 to 3 filling up the posts was against the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act (herein after referred to as “the Act” for short).

2. Briefly stated the facts of the case are that pursuant to a notification issued inviting applications for filling up the post of President of various Consumer Disputes Redressal Forums in the State, among others, petitioner and respondents 4 to 11 submitted their applications. Section 10 of the Act provides the composition of the District Forum and Section 10(1) (a) provides that each District Forum shall consist of a person who is or has been or is qualified to be District Judge who shall be its President.

3. Section 10(1A) of the Act which provides that appointment shall be made by the State Government on the recommendation of a Selection Committee reads as under:

(1A) Every appointment under sub-section (1) shall be made by the State Government on the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of the following, namely

(I) the president of the State Commission - Chairman

(II) Secretary , Law Department of the State - Member

(III) Secretary in charge of the department dealing with consumer affairs in the State - Member

(Provided that where the President or the State Commission is by reason of absence or otherwise unable to act as Chairman of the Selection Committee the State Government may refer the matter to the Chief Justice of the High Court for nominating a sitting judge of that High Court to act as a chairman)

4. Section 30(2) of the Act confers power on the State Government to frame rules for carrying out the provisions of the Act which are mentioned therein. In exercise of the said power the State Government have framed the Kerala Consumer Protection Rules, 2005. Rule 7 (1) provides for the appointment of whole-time members in the District Forum Rule 7(2) provides that the panel of sitting judges/retired District Judges and persons qualified to be appointed as District Judges shall be obtained from the High Court of Kerala for consideration of appointment to the post of President of the District Forum. Rule 7(3) being relevant for resolving the controversy in this writ petition is extracted below for reference:

(3) The categorywise panel so obtained after further scrutiny and short listing with all relevant documents and details shall be placed before the Selection Committee at the appropriate time by the Convener of the Selection Committee shall finalise a panel of category-wise candidates by adopting such methods as the Selection Committee may deem fit and the list of qualified candidates so finalized shall be sent for consideration of appointment by the Government. The Secretary to Government in charge of the Department dealing with Consumer Affairs in the State shall be the Convener of the Selection Committee. (emphasis supplied)

5. In pursuance to the provisions contained it the Act and the Rules noticed above a panel was obtained by the Convener of the Selection Committee Ext. P3 is the minutes of the Selection Committee meeting held on 27/11/2007 in the Chamber of the President of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission which was also attended by the Secretary to the Law Department and the Secretary. Consumer Affairs Department. In the minutes, it is stated that the Committee had forwarded intimation to 131 candidates calling upon them to appear for the interview which was scheduled to be held during the period 27/11/2007 to 1/2/2007. Proceeding further, it is recorded thus:

The members of the Committee expressed their difficultly in conducting interviews every afternoon After a detailed discussion the Committee decided to depute the Additiona