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NON-REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3560 OF 2008

Pratibha Pratisthan & Ors.              ….Appellants  

vs.

Manager, Canara Bank & Ors.                                 …Respondents

WITH  

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3561 OF 2008

J U D G M E N T

Madan B. Lokur, J.

1. In these appeals a very short question has arisen, namely, whether a

complaint can be filed by a Trust under the provisions of the Consumer

Protection  Act,  1986  (for  short,  ‘the  Act’).   The  National  Consumer

Disputes  Redressal  Commission  (for  short,  ‘National  Commission’)

answered the question in the negative and we are in agreement with that

view.

2. Section  2  (c)  of  the  Act  provides  for  a  complainant  making  a

complaint,  inter  alia,  for  an  unfair  trade  practice  or  a  restrictive  trade

practice adopted by any trader or service provider; a complaint in respect of C.A. Nos. 3560/2008 etc.                                                                                               Page 1 of 4

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goods (bought  by a  complainant)  suffering from one or  more defects;  a

complaint of deficiency in services hired or availed of by a complainant and

so on.  A complainant is defined in Section 2 (b) of the Act in the following

words :-

(b)     "complainant" means  −  

(i)       a consumer; or  

(ii)    any  voluntary  consumer  association  registered  under  the Companies Act,1956 (1 of 1956) or under any other law for the time being in force; or  

(iii)    the Central Government or any State Government;  or

(iv)    one or more consumers, where there are numerous consumers having the same interest;

(v)    in case of death of a consumer,  his legal heir or representative ; who or which makes a complaint;  

3. It is quite clear from the above definition of a complainant that it

does not include a Trust.  But does a Trust come within the definition of a

consumer?

A consumer has been defined in Section 2 (d) of the Act as follows :-

(d) "consumer" means any person who, −   

(i)  buys  any  goods  for  a  consideration  which  has  been  paid  or promised or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment and includes any user of such goods other than the person who buys such goods for consideration paid or promised or partly  paid  or  partly  promised,  or  under  any  system  of  deferred

C.A. Nos. 3560/2008 etc.                                                                                               Page 2 of 4

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payment, when such use is made with the approval of such person, but does not include a person who obtains such goods for resale or for any commercial purpose; or  

(ii) hires or avails of any services for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of  deferred  payment  and includes  any beneficiary  of  such services other than the person who hires or avails of  the services for consideration paid or promised, or partly paid and partly promised, or under  any  system  of  deferred  payment,  when  such  services  are availed of with the approval of the first mentioned person; but does not include a person who avails of such services of any commercial purpose;

Explanation. −  For the purposes of this clause,  "commercial purpose" does not include use by a person of goods bought and used by him and services availed by him exclusively for the purposes of earning his livelihood by means of self-employment;

4. A reading of the definition of the words ‘complaint’, ‘complainant’

and ‘consumer’ makes  it clear that a Trust cannot invoke the provisions of

the Act in respect of any allegation on the basis of which a complaint could

be made.  To put this beyond any doubt, the word ‘person’ has also been

defined in the Act and Section 2(m) thereof defines a person as follows :-

(m)    "person" includes, −  

(i)      a firm whether registered or not;

(ii)    a Hindu undivided family;  

(iii)    a co-operative society;  

(iv)    every other association of persons whether registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or not

C.A. Nos. 3560/2008 etc.                                                                                               Page 3 of 4

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5. On a plain and simple reading of all the above provisions of the Act it

is  clear  that  a  Trust  is  not  a  person  and  therefore  not  a  consumer.

Consequently,  it  cannot  be  a  complainant  and  cannot  file  a  consumer

dispute under the provisions of the Act.

6. In  view  of  the  above,  we  are  of  opinion  that  the  National

Commission  was  quite  right  in  holding  that  the  complaint  filed  by  the

appellant Trust was not maintainable.

7. We have heard submissions of learned counsel for the parties on the

merits of the dispute. However, since we have concluded that the complaint

itself was not maintainable, we refrain from making any comment on the

merits of the dispute.

8. The appeals are dismissed.

       ..……………………….J          (Madan B. Lokur)

New Delhi;                                .………………………J March  7,  2017                                                                  (Prafulla C. Pant)

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