The central legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of 'commercial purpose' as defined in the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and the emphasis on the question of 'commercial purpose' being a question of fact to be decided in the facts of each case.

ORDER

Justice Shri. U.V. Bakre, President - This appeal is directed against the Order dated 25/07/2016 passed by the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, South Goa ("The Forum", for short) in Complaint No. 40/2016. The Appellants were the Complainants whereas Respondents were the Opposite Parties (OPs) in the said Complaint. Parties shall hereinafter be referred to as per their status in the said Complaint.

2. Heard Ms. S. Parab, Lr. Counsel for the Appellants and Mr. J. Ramaiya, Lr. Counsel for the OPs. Both the parties have also filed written arguments. We have perused the record and proceedings also.

3. By impugned order, the Complaint has been dismissed at the stage of admission itself without issuing notice to the OPs. In paragraph 3 of the Complaint, the Complainants had pleaded that they were in business field dealing with electronic, security and surveillance and as such they were required to visit various places of business in India as well as abroad very often and that on many occasions they had faced problem of getting accommodation at their business points such as in Mumbai, Mahabaleshwar, Delhi, etc. as well as abroad. The Complainants, in paragraph 4 of the Complaint, had alleged that during a friendly talk with Mr. Sidney Alfred Fernandes, the Complainant No. 1 expressed his problems in securing accommodations in hotels/resorts during their business visits to various cities in India and abroad when Mr. Sidney told him about the OPs arranging/providing holiday suits/compartments for its members in various resorts in India as well as abroad. It was further averred in paragraph 12 of the Complaint that the Complainants had then purchased red season membership of the OP No. 1 to have facilities of reservation of one bedroom holiday suit/apartment as per the scheme, by effecting down payment of Rs. 3,37,500/- and by agreeing to pay the balance amount in 24 monthly instalments of Rs. 13,219/- each. In paragraph 14, the Complainants had averred that they had twice requisitioned the OPs for reservation and booking of one bedroom apartment/suit for them. The first requisition was made in the second week of August 2015 when the Complainants had arranged their tour to Mahabaleshwar and the second requisition was made in the first week of September 2015 to Bangkok and that the OPs turned down their requisitions on the ground that there was no accommodation and that the booking should be made four months in advance. The Complainants had further pleaded in paragraph 15 of the Complaint that the nature of their business commitments was such that they could not plan the tour four months in advance. Since the OPs had denied facilities of accommodation for the Complainants on two occasions, they had issued notice to the OPs and non-compliance of the same gave rise to the Complaint.

4. According to the Forum, the averments made in paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Complaint revealed that the Complainants did not come under the definition "Consumer" as defined under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (the 'Act', for short). The Forum observed that they did not find any averments made by the Complainants that services availed by them were exclusively for the purpose of earning their livelihood by means of self-employment. Therefore the Complaint was not admitted.

5. In our considered view, the Forum has committed gross error in disposing of the Complaint at the stage of admission itself. There was no need for the Complainants to plead that the services availed by them were exclusive for the purpose of earning their livelihood by means of self-employment. There was no averment in the Complaint to show that the services of the OPs were availed by the Complainants for the purpose of any employment or commerce. Merely because the Complainants are businessman and are required to visit various places for the purpose of their business for which they wanted accommodation at the business point that does not mean that they had purchased the membership of