GHAMBHIRMAL KISHORECHAND vs Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd.

THE complainant aggrieved of the order dated 2.4.1997 passed in case No. 705/96 by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum , Raipur (for short the ''District Forum'') has filed this appeal.

IT is not necessary for us to reproduce the fact or to express any opinion on merits of the contentions raised as we are of the view that the final order passed by the two Members is non est as the arguments in the case were heard by the President and the Members on 25.3.1997 and the case was fixed for pronouncing the judgment on 2.4.1997. Section 14(2A) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short the ''Act'') lays down that every order made by the District Forum under Sub-section (1) shall be signed by its President and the Member or Members who conducted the proceeding. On the date of the pronouncement of the judgment, the President of the District Forum was on leave. He has not signed on the judgment nor has written own judgment. He has not given a note of dis-agreement. In the circumstances, in view of the clear language of Section 14(2A) of the Act when the proceedings were conducted by the President sitting alongwith two learned Members, the order could not have been pronounced by the two Members along. The learned Members for pronouncing the order in the absence of President have placed reliance on the decision of the Supreme Court in Gulzari Lal Agrawal v. The Accounts Officer, III (1996) CPJ 12 (SC), wherein the Supreme Court after considering the provisions of Sections 2(1)(j), 14(2), 14(2A) and 29A and giving harmonious construction has observed that there could not only be the intention of the Legislature to render Commission non-functional in the absence of President. However, in the present case, the proceedings were conducted by the President sitting alongwith the two Members, therefore, the judgment ought to have been pronounced by the President and the two Members, even if the judgment was not written by him.

Therefore, we set aside the order of the District Forum and remit this case to the District Forum for deciding the same afresh after hearing the parties. The judgment shall be delivered within a period of 30 days from the date of hearing which is fixed as 21.3.2000 of which no notice shall be issued to the parties as they have been noticed here through their Counsel. A copy of this order be conveyed to the parties and a copy be sent to the District Forum alongwith the record of the case. Order set aside.