Admission of a Consumer Complaint and the Procedure After Admission: Sections 36 to 38

Between filing and relief lies the procedure, and the 2019 Act scripts it stage by stage with clocks attached: twenty-one days to decide admissibility, failing which the complaint is deemed admitted; twenty-one days to send the complaint across; thirty days plus fifteen for the opposite party's version, on pain of ex parte; forty-five days for the laboratory; and a statutory endeavour to decide in three months, five where testing intervenes. This note walks the complaint from scrutiny to determination.

1. Admission — Section 36

The bench: every proceeding is conducted by the President and at least one member, sitting together; differences resolve by majority once the point is heard by another member.
Scrutiny: the registry examines the complaint for form, fee, jurisdiction (tier and venue), limitation and the essentials of a cause; defects are notified for rectification, on the portal where filing was electronic.
The decision on admissibility: the Commission may admit the complaint for proceeding, or reject it, but no complaint may be rejected without giving the complainant an opportunity of being heard (Section 36(2)).
The twenty-one-day clock and deemed admission: admissibility is ordinarily to be decided within twenty-one days of filing; where it is not, the complaint shall be deemed to have been admitted (Section 36(3)), the Act's sharpest answer to the old practice of complaints dying unnumbered at the admission stage.
Mediation reference (Section 37): at the first hearing after admission, or at any later stage where settlement seems possible, the Commission may, with the written consent of both parties, refer the dispute to mediation under Chapter V; settlement disposes of the matter to that extent, and failed mediation returns the file for adjudication.

2. Notice and the Opposite Party's Version — Section 38(2)

On admission, a copy of the complaint is referred to the opposite party within twenty-one days, with a direction to give his version of the case within thirty days, extendable by the Commission by a period not exceeding fifteen days. The outer limit is real: the forty-five days are a statutory maximum, and the Supreme Court (Constitution Bench, in the New India Assurance v. Hilli Multipurpose Cold Storage line) has held the period not extendable beyond it, the consumer forum cannot condone a later written statement. Three courses then follow. Where the opposite party admits the allegations, the Commission decides on that footing. Where he denies or disputes, the Commission proceeds to settle the dispute on evidence. Where he omits or fails to take any action to represent his case within the time given, the Commission proceeds ex parte on the complainant's evidence, and a decision so reached is a decision on merits, not a default decree to be set aside for the asking. Where the complainant fails to appear, the Commission may either decide the complaint on merits or dismiss it for default.

3. Testing of Goods and the Evidence Stage

3.1 Analysis by an appropriate laboratory — Section 38(2)(c) to (g)

Where the complaint alleges a defect in goods which cannot be determined without proper analysis or test, the Commission obtains a sample of the goods, seals and authenticates it, and refers it to an appropriate laboratory with directions to analyse or test and report within forty-five days (extendable). The complainant deposits the prescribed fee; the report is forwarded to the opposite party with the Commission's own remarks; and either party disputing the report's correctness states its objections in writing and is given a reasonable opportunity of being heard on them before the Commission reaches its finding, the sequence that converts a technical report into tested evidence.

3.2 Evidence and hearing

Consumer procedure is summary by design: evidence goes in chiefly on affidavit with documents, the Commission is guided by natural justice rather than the full rigour of the Civil Procedure Code and Evidence Act, and it wields the civil-court powers of Section 38(9), summoning and examination on oath, discovery and production, affidavit evidence, requisition of laboratory reports, commissions for witnesses, where the contest requires. For services, where analysis has no place, the Commission decides on the basis of evidence brought by the parties; the same applies to goods where testing is unnecessary. Adjournments are not to be granted ordinarily, and only for reasons recorded in writing with costs as the Commission orders; the statutory endeavour is to decide within three months of the opposite party's receipt of notice, five months where analysis or testing is required. Interim relief in aid of the complaint, and the recording of any settlement, complete the stage; then follows the order under Section 39, reasoned, pronounced and communicated, with its menu of reliefs from refund and replacement to compensation, discontinuance and corrective advertisement.

⚠ Key point

The clocks carry the procedure: admissibility in twenty-one days or deemed admission, no rejection unheard; complaint across in twenty-one days; version in thirty plus at most fifteen days, an outer limit the Supreme Court holds absolute, with ex parte proceeding on default; sealed samples to an appropriate laboratory reporting in forty-five days, with written objections heard; affidavit evidence under civil-court powers, adjournments only for recorded reasons; decision endeavoured in three months, five with testing; then the Section 39 order.

4. Related Topics and Provisions

Filing and adjudication complete notes (Topic 42): the whole journey in one place
Civil-court powers (Topic 46): Section 38(9) in detail
E-filing and electronic proceedings (Topic 44): the digital channel these stages run through
Section 39 reliefs and appeals: the order and its correction, in the companion notes