IMPORTANT POINT
Execution proceedings pending before the District Forum shall remain stayed

ORDER

R.K. Agrawal, President

The present Revision Petition has been filed against order dated 18-01-2017, passed by Tamilnadu State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission at Chennai (hereinafter referred to as ‘the State Commission’) whereby the Appeal preferred by the Petitioners herein have been dismissed on the ground that the order passed in CMP 406/2015 stands. It may be mentioned here that order in CMP 406/2015 was passed on 11-12-2015 wherein the delay application was rejected, against which the Petitioners preferred Revision Petition No.820 of 2016 which was disposed of by condoning the delay subject to further payment of Rs.10,000/- as costs which will be paid to the Respondent/Complainant through demand draft before the State Commission and the parties were directed to appear before the State Commission on 05-07-2016.

2. It appears that by 05-07-2016, the costs of Rs.10,000/- was not paid by the Petitioners for some reason or the other and according to the Learned Counsel Mr. N. Venkatraman, who is appearing for the Petitioners, a bankers cheque for Rs.10,000/- was prepared on 23-08-2016 and sent to the Complainant/Respondent which was refused by the Complainant/Respondent on 29-08-2016. The State Commission had dismissed the Appeal on the ground that the order dated 11-12-2015 passed in CMP 406/2016 stands.

3. The Learned Counsel for the Petitioners submitted that for a short delay of about one and half month in making payment of Rs.10,000/- imposed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the Petitioners should not be made to suffer and the Appeal preferred by the Petitioners before the State Commission be disposed of expeditiously. He further submitted that the Petitioners are prepared to comply with any condition imposed by this Commission. The Learned Counsel, Mr. V. Shankar, appearing for the Respondent, however, submitted that the conduct of the Petitioners in complying with the order dated 17-05-2016 passed by this Commission should not be condoned as they were not interested in complying with the said order and intentionally delayed the matter by getting the bankers cheque prepared on 23-08-2016 instead of on or before 05-07-2016 and the State Commission in two orders passed on different dates have declined to restore the Appeal to its original number by observing that it is for the Petitioners to approach the National Commission for appropriate orders seeking extension of time which has not been done.

3. We have given our thoughtful consideration to the various pleas raised by the Learned Counsel for the parties and are of the opinion that in order to do complete justice to the parties, it would be appropriate that the impugned order passed by the State Commission be set aside and the Appeal be restored to its original number with a direction to the Petitioners to pay the sum of Rs.10,000/- awarded as costs by this Commission as also further sum of Rs.10,000/- towards costs to the Complainant/Respondent herein within two weeks from today. Thus, a total sum of Rs.20,000/- is to be paid by the Petitioners to the Complainant/Respondent herein within two weeks from today. Both the parties shall appear before the State Commission on 25-07-2019.

4. We request the State Commission to decide the Appeal expeditiously, in accordance with law, on merits, preferably within a period of three months from 25-07-2019.

5. It is made clear that the Petitioners shall not seek any adjournment in the matter. We may also make it clear that if the amount of Rs.20,000/- is not paid to the Complainant on or before 25-07-2019, the State Commission is not required to decide the Appeal on merits.

6. The execution proceedings pending before the District Forum shall remain stayed till 25-07-2019 and if the Petitioners pay the sum of Rs.20,000/-as directed above, on or before 25-07-2019 to the Complainant/Respondent herein, the further proceedings in the execution case pending before the District Forum shall remain stayed t