The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 replaced the 1986 Act and changed several things people still get wrong, including how the forum is chosen.
Which commission
Jurisdiction is decided by the value of the consideration paid, not by the compensation claimed. That is the change from the old Act.
- Up to Rs 50 lakh: District Commission
- Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore: State Commission
- Above Rs 2 crore: National Commission
One wrinkle explains why older articles give different figures. Section 34 of the Act itself sets the District Commission's ceiling at one crore rupees, but the same section allows the Central Government to prescribe some other value, and it has done so. The operative figures are the ones above, fixed by the Consumer Protection (Jurisdiction of the District Commission, the State Commission and the National Commission) Rules, 2021. Our guide on which consumer commission has jurisdiction sets out the three tiers and what to do when a claim sits close to a boundary.
Where you can file
Where you ordinarily reside or work for gain, or where the opposite party resides or carries on business, or where the cause of action arose. The right to file where the consumer lives is one of the most useful features of the Act.
Limitation
Two years from the date the cause of action arose. Delay can be condoned for sufficient cause recorded in writing, but do not rely on it.
Plead the date expressly. In a refund case it is the date the refund was declined, not the date it was first requested. If the two years have run, file the condonation application with the complaint, supported by an affidavit explaining the delay.
Filing online
Complaints can be filed through the e-Daakhil portal, and you may appear in person without a lawyer. For a straightforward matter with clean documents, many people do exactly that.
What it costs
Less than people expect. Under the Consumer Protection (Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions) Rules, 2020, no fee at all is payable where the consideration paid is up to Rs 5 lakh, which covers most household complaints. Above that the fee rises on a slab basis and is still measured in hundreds or low thousands of rupees rather than as a percentage of the claim. That schedule is amended from time to time, so take the current figure from e-Daakhil when you file.
How the case actually runs
Once the complaint is admitted, a copy goes to the opposite party within twenty-one days, and it has thirty days to file its version, extendable by not more than a further fifteen.
Evidence is led on affidavit and documents rather than by oral examination, which is why a loosely drafted affidavit is hard to repair later. The Act asks the Commission to decide a complaint within three months of the opposite party receiving notice, or five months where testing is involved. Treat those as the statutory intention rather than the working reality.
Filing in Bengaluru
The Karnataka State Commission sits in Bengaluru, and Bengaluru Urban has more than one District Commission, so establish which one covers your address before you file rather than after. Our step-by-step note on how to file a consumer complaint goes through the sequence, the form of the complaint, and the affidavit that has to accompany it.
Invoice and proof of payment, the warranty or service contract, every email and message with the seller, photographs of the defect, and a short chronology. A complaint with a clear timeline and complete annexures moves several times faster than one without.
- The complaint itself, signed, with a verifying affidavit
- Invoice, order confirmation or receipt proving the transaction
- The warranty card, policy document, or terms relied on
- The legal notice sent, and proof of dispatch
- All correspondence with the opposite party, in date order
- Photographs, videos or an expert report on the defect
- An index and a list of dates, which the registry will ask for
- Proof of the fee paid, and the number of sets the commission requires
What you can ask for
Removal of the defect, replacement, refund of the price, compensation for loss or injury, and where there is an unfair trade practice or misleading advertisement, further relief. The 2019 Act also introduced product liability, allowing action against the manufacturer, seller or service provider for harm caused by a defective product.
The list of reliefs is wider than most complainants use. Beyond refund with interest and compensation, a Commission can award punitive damages, direct that an unfair trade practice be discontinued, and require a corrective advertisement at the offender's own cost. Ask for what you want item by item, with a figure against each; a vague prayer produces an order that is very hard to execute.
If you win and they still do not pay
An order of a consumer commission is enforced by the commission itself as though it were a decree of a civil court, applying Order XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure, so attachment is available without filing a fresh suit. Separately, failing to comply is an offence, punishable with imprisonment of not less than one month and up to three years, or a fine of not less than Rs 25,000 and up to Rs 1 lakh, or both, and the Commission itself exercises the powers of a Judicial Magistrate of the first class for that purpose.
This is not your only remedy
The Act is expressly in addition to, and not in derogation of, any other law in force, so a consumer complaint can run alongside a regulatory complaint or a police complaint, provided you are not asking two forums for the same relief on the same cause. For an online purchase, the platform's own machinery and the wider rights a buyer has against an e-commerce seller are worth exhausting first, because that route is faster and it builds the record you will later annex.