Manifest injustice has to be pleaded and proved for invocation of the provisions of Article 227.

In all these revisions, a common question arises, i.e. whether the District Consumer Forum and a State Consumer Forum has powers to issue a commission to make a local inspection. In all these cases, the Consumer Forum has appointed a Commissioner and asked for the report.

2. According to the petitioner, the order of the Forum is one without jurisdiction and therefore under Art. 227 of the Constitution of India, the same is liable to be quashed. The argument is that the Forum itself is a creation of the Statute and when the Statute gives the powers anything which is not provided under the Statute cannot be allowed by the Consumer Forum. In this case, the issuance of the Commission is not provided under the Statute and therefore, it is one without jurisdiction.

3. As against the said contention, the complainants before the Consumer Forum who is the respondent herein contended that the Consumer Forum has been specially enacted for speedy disposal of cases and it is an additional remedy provided for an aggrieved person. It is a Judicial Tribunal having trappings of Court and since it decides the rights of the parties it has also power to take evidence. The issuance of Commission is a mode of taking evidence and the same is not prohibited by the Statute.

4. It is further submitted that what is not prohibited under the Statute, is entitled to be exercised by the Tribunal and therefore, the impugned order do not call for interference.

5. I heard the learned counsel on both sides in detail. What is the scope of the proceeding whether before the District Forum or State Consumer Forum under Consumer Protection Act, camd up for consideration in Fair Air Engineers Pvt. Ltd. v. N. K. Modi. In that case, the question that arose for consideration was whether the provisions of S. 34 of the Arbitration Act could be invoked before a Consumer Forum and whether the proceedings before the Forum are legal proceedings. Paragraphs 8 to 11 of the judgment are relevant for our purpose and the same read thus :

"The crucial question is whether the proceedings of the forums created, under the Act are legal proceedings and the authorities have the trappings of judicial authorities or a Court within the meaning of S. 34 of the Arbitration Act? Before going into the decisions of this Court it is necessary to read the provisions of the Act so that we can have a clear picture of the conspectus of its operation. Section 3 envisages that"

the provisions of this Act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions of any other law for the time being in force.

"Section 10 speaks of constitution and composition of District Forums so as to consist of persons specified in clauses (a) and (b). They shall include a person who is, or who has been, or is qualified to be a District Judge, as its President, 'apart from' other members envisaged in clause (b) in sub-section (1) thereof. Similarly, S. 16 of the Act speaks about composition of the State Commission. It provides that each State Commission shall consist of a person who is, or has been, a Judge of a High Court, appointed by the State Government, who shall be the President of the Commission, apart from other members envisaged under clause (b) of sub-sec. (1) thereof. Section 20 of the Act, similarly, envisages the composition of the National Commission and a person who is, or has been, a Judge of the Supreme Court, to be appointed by the Central Government, shall be its President, apart from other members envisaged in clause (b) of sub-sec. (1) thereof. Thus the Presiding Officers of the forums are judicial officers and in the case of commissions they are sitting or retired Judges of the High Court or the Supreme Court, as the case may be. A remedy of complaint has been provided to the aggrieved consumer defined under S. 2(d) of the Act. The expression 'complaint' has been defined under S. 2(c) and 'complainant' has been defined under S. 2(b) of the Act. Section 12 prescribes the manner in whi