Professionals and Consumer Protection Act, 1986

Abstract:     
BY VIRTUE of its section 1 (4), the Consumer Protection Act 1986 (CPA) has been made applicable to "all goods and services." However, attempts by the consumer forums, envisaged and established under this Act, to bring various types of services within its ambit have met with considerable resistance. Despite strong and repeated protestations from some of the concerned sectors, (he issues concerning inclusion of services rendered by airlines, banks, housing boards, insurance companies, railways, roadways and telecommunications within the jurisdiction of CPA have been by and large settled now. It may also be appropriate to mention here that the attempts by the consumer forums to bring at least three types of services {i.e., housing, medical and educational services) within the fold of CPA had met with resistance to such an extent that in two cases {i.e., housing and medical profession) the matters went up to the Supreme Court for a final word and the third issue {i.e., educational services) is also likely to be debated there.

Keywords: contract of personal services, consumer protection

working papers series