Online platforms can be held equally liable for the acts of the principal in consumer transactions.

ORDER

Pritam Pal, President - This appeal by opposite party Nos.1 and 3 is directed against the order dated 18.3.2009 passed by District Consumer Forum-II, U.T. Chandigarh whereby complaint bearing No. 101 of 2008 filed by Mr. Shivanand Narain- respondent No. 1/complainant was allowed with costs of Rs. 5,000 and OPs were directed to refund the amount of Rs. 20,390 being the price of the mobile set and to pay a sum of Rs. 15,000 as compensation for mental tension and harassment. The OPs were directed to make payment of the above amounts to the complainant within one month from the date of receipt of certified copy of the order, failing which they were made liable to pay penal interest @ 12% p.a. from the date of order till its realization.

2. The parties hereinafter shall be referred to as per their ranking before the District Consumer Forum.

3. The brief facts culminating to the commencement of this appeal may be recapitulated thus;

The complainant after seeing an advertisement published by India Times- opposite party No. 1 in the Times of India bought an O2 XDA Stealth Mobile Phone (IMEI # 356557002726734) on 15.6.2007. The said mobile was sold through M/s. First Wholesalers (OP No. 4) -agents of OP No. 1 vide invoice No. 00579 dated 15.6.2007 for Rs. 20,390. On receiving the mobile through courier, complainant noticed that on inserting the SIM card it stopped functioning and the software hanged and did not display anything except the welcome screen and it became absolutely unusable. The complainant contacted OP-3 who advised him to return the phone for replacement. He then sent the mobile phone to OP-3 through TNT Courier for replacement. However, the said mobile phone was returned to the complainant by OP-4 along with a letter copy of which is Annexure C-4 written by one Sh. Kapil Aggarwal asking the complainant to lodge the claim with O2 Service Centre as the product carried manufacturer warranty. The complainant promptly spoke to O2 Customer Care on 6.8.2007 and his complaint was registered under complaint No. 20070819. He received a letter Annexure C-5 sent by one Mr. Anthony on behalf of O2 Helpdesk requiring him to fill the forms sent along with that letter. It was also mentioned in the letter that courier person would visit the house of the complainant and would pick up the mobile set and the forms filled in by the complainant but none came to pick up the forms and the mobile set despite the fact that the complainant made several calls to O2 Helpdesk. Ultimately complainant sent an e-mail dated 31.8.2007 to Mr. Anthony of O2 Helpdesk intimating him that the mobile set had not been picked up. Thereafter, the complainant also served a legal notice dated 12.10.2007 upon OPs but to no effect. Hence, alleging unfair trade practice and deficiency in service on the part of OPs, complainant filed complaint before the District Forum.

4. On the other hand, the case of OP Nos. 1 and 3 before the District Forum was that the complaint qua them was not maintainable as the complainant was not a consumer qua them in view of Sections 2(d)(i) and (ii) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 . It was pleaded that Indiatimes Shopping is one of the ancillary sites of the trade name indiatimes.com owned and run by the Times Internet Ltd. ( for short hereinafter to be referred as TIL) a company registered under the provisions of Companies Act, 1956. The said company was engaged in various business inter aila promotions/advertisings of products events, etc., and in doing so OP Nos. 1 and 3 acted only as an online store/show window/facilitator for various trade organizations/ manufactures, shops, etc. TIL only solicited business and on behalf of such trade organization/manufacturer, shop, etc., it also provided Internet related services including owning and managing sites and portals on the internet through the medium of electronic media and its networks and providing certain information to end users as well as customers. It was further pleaded that