In a significant ruling, the Calcutta High Court has stated that consumer forums do not have the authority to issue arrest warrants like a criminal court but can issue detention orders similar to those of a civil court. This decision came to light following a dispute involving the branch manager of an automobile company in Hooghly.
Justice Suvra Ghosh of the Calcutta High Court emphasized on Wednesday that consumer forums are limited in their punitive measures to the enforcement of civil penalties, not criminal sanctions. “The law does not authorize the forum to issue a warrant of arrest for enforcement of its order under the Code of Criminal Procedure,” Justice Ghosh remarked while quashing the arrest warrant previously issued by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum against the manager.
This clarification stems from an interpretation of Section 71 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, alongside a reference to a judgment from a coordinate bench of the Calcutta High Court. The cited judgment notes that in an execution application, the commission can issue a warrant for the detention of the judgment debtor in a civil prison as per the Code of Civil Procedure, and may enforce an agreement by putting the debtor in civil prison or by attaching and selling property.
The case involved a consumer who, in 2013, purchased a tractor from a showroom in Hooghly for a total cost of Rs 7.78 lakh, paying a significant portion through finance. After failing to meet the final payment installments, the finance company repossessed and sold the vehicle. In response, the buyer approached the consumer forum in 2018, which ruled that the automobile seller had to hand over the registration certificate and release the tractor once the remaining Rs 25,716 was paid. The forum then issued an arrest warrant against the branch manager in December 2019 when the directive was not followed.
The manager contended that he was unaware of the proceedings as he had not been made a party to the case and only learned of the situation once the arrest warrant was issued. This led to the legal challenge resolved by the Calcutta High Court’s recent judgment, clarifying the powers of consumer forums in enforcing their orders.
