The main legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of the limitation period for filing a complaint and the definition of a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act.

ORDER

Shreesha, Presiding Member—Challenge in this Revision Petition under section 21(b) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (in short, the Act), is to the order dated 8.9.2016 in Appeal No. 690 of 2015 passed by the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Jaipur, Rajasthan (in short, the State Commission). By the impugned order, the State Commission allowed the appeal preferred by the Housing Board and dismissed the Complaint as not maintainable on the ground that it was barred by limitation and that complainant's registration was not accepted, hence he is not a consumer.

2. The facts in brief are that the Complainant had deposited an amount of Rs. 10,000 towards Registration and applied in one Special Registration Scheme, 2005 vide application No. 19823 for a Multi-Storied Housing Scheme in Dwarkapuri, Pratap Nagar, Sanganer. It was stated that after due scrutiny of the application, it was accepted by the Housing Board in the select list on Priority No. 33/G-2/or-3 for allotment of house to him. Thereafter, it was averred that the job of ascertaining eligibility to the Scheme was entrusted upon a private agency, whose employee demanded an amount of Rs. 2,000 from the Complainant, which he had refused to pay and for this reason, the agency had given a report that the Complainant was not eligible for the said Scheme. While so, on behalf of the Housing Board, Union Bank of India sent to the Complainant a cheque of Rs. 9,500 after deducting Rs. 500. After the Registration amount was refunded on 7.5.2007, the Complainant did not accept the same and issued a letter dated 16.11.2007 and returned the cheque to the Housing Beard. He had also written a letter on 11.8.2007 to the Chairman, Housing Board, stating that his eligibility was wrongly cancelled and made a request to revive his Registration. The Complainant made several requests to the Housing Board and he was assured that his application was being sympathetically considered.

3. Vexed with the attitude of the Housing Board, the Complainant got issued a legal notice to the Opposite Parties on 22.6.2012, but received no reply. Hence, he approached the District Forum seeking direction for allotment of the house in the aforesaid scheme or in any other scheme, together with payment of compensation of Rs. 50,000 and litigation costs.

4. The Housing Board filed their reply stating that the Complaint is barred by limitation as it was filed in the year 2012, while the cause of action had arisen on 7.5.2007 when they had refunded the registration amount and on 16.11.2007 when the refunded amount was once again deposited. The inquiry with respect to eligibility of the complainant was completed by them on 2.8.2006, when the complainant was declared ineligible. The complainant sought this information under Right to Information Act and the same was informed to him on 5.7.2007 and hence, the Complaint is barred by limitation.. It was stated that the Complainant was initially included in the list of eligible persons but no house was allotted to the Complainant, as, though he was initially given the seniority number by them, after investigation, the Complainant was considered ineligible and therefore, the allotment was not done and his amount was refunded. It was aenied that any person of the private agency demanded a sum of Rs. 2,000 from the Complainant. This is only an afterthought as the Complainant was found to be ineligible. After making necessary deductions as per the rules, the amount was refunded on 7.5.2007 itself. The complainant's income and that of his family was found to be more than the eligible level as reported by the verifying agency. The income was in excess of the monthly income specified in the scheme and the Complainant himself is doing a medical course and he was rightly held as ineligible as per the rules.

5. It was admitted that an application along with, cheque was submitted on 16.11.2007 by the Complainant before the Housing Board for considering his eligibilit