By IANS,
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has pulled up the State Consumer Commission for overstepping its powers and asked it to refund the penalty of Rs.7.5 million slapped on Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and American Express over pesky calls.
A division bench of Justice B.D.Ahmed and Justice Veena Birbal Friday said, “With regard to the penalties of Rs.5 million and Rs.2.5 million of the impugned order, we find that the State Commission does not have any power for making a penalty order other than the power given under Section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.”
The court also expunged the remarks of the commission against telecom regulator Telecom Regulation Authority of India over unsolicited commercial calls made on consumer’s phone.
The court set aside the state commission observation that if any consumer gets pesky calls from the companies, he is liable to get a compensation of Rs.25,000 and said: “This, to our mind, also amounts to legislation, a power the State Consumer Forum does not possess.”
“Whether it is the District Consumer Forum or the State Consumer Forum or the National Consumer Forum, they have to function within the precincts of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and they have to decide the quantum of compensation on a case to case basis. They cannot fix a minimum or maximum compensation when no such minimum or maximum is provided under the Act.”
“We feel that the cellular operators must ensure this menace of unsolicited commercial communications is reduced and put an end to,” the bench said in its detailed order.
Earlier, passing an order, the Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission had said there was a “unholy trinity” between telecom operators and TRAI and imposed a penalty of Rs.7.5 millions.