Who Can File a Complaint

Consumer protection law deliberately keeps the list of persons who may approach these bodies wide, so that a genuine grievance is not blocked purely on a technicality of who is allowed to complain. In general, a complaint may be filed by:

1. The consumer himself or herself — the person who bought the goods or hired the service, provided the purchase was for personal use and not for resale or a purely commercial purpose.
2. Any recognised/registered consumer association — a voluntary organisation registered under the relevant law, acting on behalf of one or more consumers, even where the individual consumer is not himself a member of that association.
3. The Central Government or a State Government — acting either on its own behalf or on behalf of consumers generally, especially in matters affecting a large number of consumers or the public interest.
4. One or more consumers, where there are numerous consumers with the same interest, filing on behalf of all of them (a class-type complaint), with the permission of the redressal body.
5. The legal heir or representative of a deceased consumer, where the original consumer has died, so that the right to complain is not lost merely because the consumer is no longer alive. …