The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission was constituted in the year 1988. It is headed by a sitting or a retired Judge of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India or a sitting or a retired Chief Justice of an Hon’ble High Court, in terms of Rule 3(12)(a) of the Tribunal(Conditions of Service) Rules, 2021.
In order to help achieve the objects of the Consumer Protection Act, the National Commission has also been conferred with the powers of administrative control over all the State Commissions by calling for periodical returns regarding the institution, disposal and pendency of cases. The National Commission is empowered to issue instructions regarding:
(1) adoption of uniform procedure in the hearing of the matters,
(2) prior service of copies of documents produced by one party to the opposite parties,
(3) speedy grant of copies of documents, &
(4) generally over-seeing the functioning of the State Commissions and the District
Commissions to ensure that the objects and purposes of the Act are best served,
without interfering with their quasi-judicial freedom.
The Registry of the National Commission is at the Ground Floor, Upbhokta Nyay Bhawan, ‘F’ Block, GPO Complex, INA, New Delhi-110 023 which remains open on all working days. The filing timings are from 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Every matter filed with the Registry is listed within 21 days of its filing for admission before the National Commission. Functioning of District Commission, State Commission and National Commission is consumer friendly; thus, a consumer can file a complaint and also address arguments in person. In genuine cases where the complainant/ appellant/ petitioner before the National Commission is unable to engage the services of an advocate, legal aid is provided by the Commission free of charge. For any enquiry with the Registry of the National Commission, one can contact on Telephone Nos. 011-24608801, 24608802, 24608803, 24608804 and Fax No. 24651505.
Filing of a Complaint
Section 35 (1) of the Act enables electronic filing of Consumer Complaints in the Consumer Commission under Consumer Protection Act 2019. Confonet project is moved from confonet to E-jagriti portal w.e.f. January 2025. Consumer can access daily case related work like cause list, case-filing, online payment, case scrutiny, case approval, case courtroom hearing, daily order/ judgment view, case history, etc….. by using the e-jagriti portal as url mentioned bellow:
| Fee structure where the value of the goods/service paid as consideration is: | |
| Above rupees two crore and upto rupees four crore | Rs. 3000 |
| Above rupees four crore and upto rupees six crore | Rs. 4000 |
| Above rupees six crore and upto rupees eight crore | Rs. 5000 |
| Above rupees eight crore and upto rupees ten crore | Rs. 6000 |
| Above rupees ten crore | Rs. 7500 |
Appeal to National Commission: Any person aggrieved by an Order made by State Commission may file an appeal against such Order to National Commission within a period of 30 days from the date of Order.