Planning to file a case in consumer court? Here’s the revised pecuniary jurisdiction

The Centre has notified the new rules for the filing of consumer cases. The new rules, it has changed the pecuniary jurisdiction of the three courts – District, State and National.

Following are the new pecuniary jurisdiction: -

District Commissions shall have jurisdiction to entertain complaints where the value of the goods or services paid as consideration does not exceed 50 lakh rupees.

State Commissions shall have jurisdiction to entertain complaints where the value of the goods or services paid as consideration exceeds 50 lakh rupees but does not exceed 2 crore rupees.

National Commission shall have jurisdiction to entertain complaints where the value of the goods or services paid as consideration exceeds 2 crore rupees.

According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, “The Act also provides consumers with the option of filing a complaint electronically. To facilitate consumers in filing their complaint online, the Central Government has set up the E-Daakhil Portal, which provides a hassle-free, speedy and inexpensive facility to consumers around the country to conveniently approach the relevant consumer forum, dispensing the need to travel and be physically present to file their grievance.”

“E-Daakhil has many features like e-Notice, case document download link & VC hearing link, filing written response by the opposite party, filing rejoinder by complainant and alerts via SMS/Email. Presently, the facility of E-Daakhil is available in 544 consumer commissions, which includes the National Commission and consumer commissions in 21 states and 3 UTs. So far, more than 10,000 cases have been filed using the E-Daakhil Portal and more than 43000 users have registered on the portal,” it added.