A Person Booking Office Space – Can This Person Filed A Complaint Under The Consumer Protection Act ? Examine The Hon’ble SC

The Supreme Court is examining the question that If a person booking a office space is obstruct from claiming the benefit under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986?

A bench of Justices S.K. Kaul and M.M. Sundresh referred the matter to CJI for decision on this issue, as connected matter is pending before the bench of CJI.

Before the National Consumer Dispute Resolution Commission 

M/s Grand Venezia Buyers Association (Regd.) filed a consumer complaint against M/s Grand Venezia Commercial Towers Pvt. Ltd., alleging a flaw in service on their part in respect of the builder – buyer agreement between 35 members of the Association and the opposite party in respect of respective office spaces booked by those members in the development project undertaken by the opposite party. 

It was demanded that the members had preserved respective commercial spaces with the motive of solely using them to earn a living through self-employment. 

M/s Grand Venezia Commercial Towers Pvt. Ltd. objected to the Association’s complaint, claiming that the association could not be considered “consumers” under Section 2(1)(d) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. 

In rejecting the complaint, Mr Ajit Bharihoke (Presiding Member) and Anup K Thakur (Member) stated that in our opinion, the members of the complainant Association on whose behalf the complaint was filed cannot be considered consumers because they hired the opposite party’s services for commercial purposes. As none of the complainant Association’s members is a consumer, the consumer complaint filed by the complainant Association, despite being filed under section 12 (1) (b) of the Act, is not maintainable.

M/s Grand Venezia Commercial Towers Pvt. Ltd. objected to the Association’s complaint, claiming that the association could not be envisaged “consumers” under Section 2(1)(d) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. 

Case Details: M/S Grand Venezia Buyers Association (Regd.) v. M/S Grand Venezia Commercial Towers Pvt. Ltd.| Civil Appeal No(s). 1660/2018