Now Reading: SC Says Consumer Case Deadline Starts With Complaint Copy
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SC Says Consumer Case Deadline Starts With Complaint Copy
The Supreme Court has ruled that the time limit for filing a written statement in a consumer case does not begin unless the notice includes a copy of the complaint. A bench…
The Story in Brief
The Supreme Court has ruled that the time limit for filing a written statement in a consumer case does not begin unless the notice includes a copy of the complaint. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva set aside a September 2023 NCDRC order that rejected HDFC Bank’s written statement as delayed.
The bank said its 2019 notice did not include the complaint and that complete papers arrived only in 2021. The court found that the NCDRC had not checked this fact properly. It directed the commission to accept the written statement and decide the 2014 consumer case on merit, citing the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in New India Assurance v Hilli Multipurpose Cold Storage.
The Indian Opinion
The easy claim that the ruling gives banks a free pass is overstated. It protects a basic procedural safeguard, not an exemption from consumer law. The opposite claim, that every late filing can now be revived, is also wrong. The key issue is proof of what the notice contained and when complete papers were served. The NCDRC’s record check, followed by the final decision on merits, will settle this dispute.
Source: deccanherald.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
