By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Monday admitted a petition to examine whether lawyers fall within the ambit of the consumer protection law and are liable to pay damages to their clients for unsatisfactory service.
Admitting the petition, a bench of Justices P.P. Noalekar and L.S. Panta issued notice to Delhi resident D.K. Gandhi, who had dragged a city lawyer to the District Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum on charges of providing unsatisfactory legal service to him.
On his complaint, the district consumer forum had in 1988 asked his advocate M. Mathias to pay him Rs.3,000 as damages for providing “deficient legal service”.
The consumer forum also asked Mathias to pay Gandhi, of the Delhi-based National Institute of Communicable Diseases, litigation cost of Rs.1,000 for forcing him to go to the consumer forum.
Later, on Mathias’ appeal Delhi’s State Consumer Commission set aside the ruling. But its appellate authority, the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC), reversed the order on the basis of an apex court ruling. The apex court had held that lawyers, like doctors and architects, come under the purview of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
The Bar of Indian Lawyers, headed by advocate Jasbir Singh Malik, approached the apex court, asking it to decide if lawyers fall within the ambit of the consumer protection law.
Advocate Malik in his petition contended that lawyers cannot be covered under the Consumer Protection Act as they cannot assure success in litigation because the judgements are delivered by the courts, over which lawyers have no control.
Malik also contended that a ruling of a lower court can be challenged before a higher court and if a client refuses to approach a higher court, the lawyers cannot be rendered guilty of providing deficient legal service.