EXECUTION OF CONSUMER COURT ORDER WHEN CAN BE STAYED
Section
24 of Consumer Protection Act talks
about the finality of the order and once
the order is final ,consumer has a right to get it executed . The question has
been raised time and again as to under what circumstances execution of consumer
court order can be stayed .National Commission has discussed this issue in the
matter before it , Shreenath Corporation &Others v/s Nilkamal v. Patel
&Others referring to section 24,27
and 25 of the act .
Section
24 confirms that “every order of a District Forum ,the State Commission or
National Commission shall ,if no appeal has been preferred against such order
under the provision of this act be final ’.This section does not talk of any
stay or admission of the appeal ,hence
defendent party just gets appeal
registerd and claims for stay of execution of the order. Now the word ‘preferred
‘ requires interpretation.
National
Commission relying upon number of judgments pronounced by the apex court on the
issue held and explained in its judgment dated 5.8.2014 in the above referred
case Of Shreenath Corporation -
“ A
person against whom an order is passed by the District Forum,State Commission
or the National Commission as the case may be ,fails or omits to comply with
the order,he can be proceeded against under section 27 of the act even if he
has filed an appeal against the order unless the said order has been stayed by
the superior forum ”
The basis
of above holding by the National Commission rests on the various earlier
judgments .Apex court in the case of Atmaram
Properties v/s Federal Motors v11(2005) 1 SCC 705 had held-
“There
was no bar against initiation of proceedings under section27 of the act merely
on account of an appeal having been preferred by the aggrieved party.A prayer
for grant of stay of proceedings or on execution of order has to be made
specifically to the appellate court and court has a discretion to grant an
order of stay or refuse. Merely preferring an appeal does not operate as stay
on the decree nor on the proceedings in the court”
In yet
another case of Shree Chamundi Mopeds
v/s Church of South India Trust Association , apex court went further to
explain the impact of stay-
“Wherein
operation of the order has been stayed by the court,it only means that such an
order would not be operative from the date of its passing ,it shall remain
pending till the disposal of case depending upon its final verdict .Order
stayed is not wiped up from existence .”
Its clear
from the above discussion that-
Merely
preferring an appeal does not operate as stay on the decree nor on the
proceedings in the court
Further
,even if order stayed from operation ,it is not wiped up from existence .”
DR PREM
LATA
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