Consumer forum rapped for 'hasty disposal'

CHENNAI: Rapping the Chennai district consumer forum for failing to appreciate all the facts of a case, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) observed that the panel had "committed an error" while dismissing a complaint. A bench of Justice M Thanikachalam, judicial member J Jayaram and member Vasugi Ramanan passed the order.
Loga Prabhu, a resident of Thiru-vi-ka Nagar, first approached the district consumer forum, saying that a washing machine he had bought for Rs 14,500 in June 2005 had malfunctioned about nine times since he started using it.
Though the machine had a two-year warranty, neither executives from the manufacturer nor representatives from the dealer could fix the defects. Finally, the general manager of the company agreed that the machine was not up to the mark and agreed to replace it. However, Prabhu was not willing and wanted a refund of the amount paid for the machine.
Through its order in January, 2010, the district forum recorded that the complainant had failed to prove the manufacturing defect and therefore, he is not entitled to any relief. The forum dismissed his complaint, following which Prabhu moved the SCDRC.
On going through the documents, the bench found that the district forum had failed to consider the admission by the manufacturer itself that the standard of the machine was not up to the mark. It had, thereby, "misdirected itself from recording the correct finding". The bench said the order deprived the consumer of his right.
Since the machine was used for more than a year and as the dealer had offered to replace the model, the "district forum should have passed an appropriate order instead of dismissing the complaint, which is most unfortunate," the bench observed.
Pointing out that the order of the district forum "deserved to be set aside", the SCDRC allowed directed that the old washing machine be replaced with a new machine of the same type within two months.