Case dimissed after 3 Years due to Pecunary Jurisdiction

Tilak Marg Forum for Legal Questions Forums Consumer Laws Case dimissed after 3 Years due to Pecunary Jurisdiction

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    • #3184

      Dear All,

      I filed a case in district court for a compensation of around 15 Lakhs. The case was entertained by the court for three years and all the arguments were heard. However, after three years the court surpringly closed the case stating that the compensation + cost of plot is greater than 20 Lakhs. I did mentioned during the arguments, that my claim is actually Rs 3 lakhs only, which was documented in evidence submission papers.

      My question:
      1. Can I appeal to district forum clarifying the claim to be Rs 3 Lakh.
      2. Can I file a new case to the distric forum with a Rs. 3 Lakh claim.

      I can not file state forum as it is not local and is not possible for me to commute.

      Your suggestions will be highly appreciated.

    • #3185

      Though in your question you have mentioned district court, it appears that you are referring to district consumer forum.

      Please note that as per Section 11 of the Consumer Protection Act, the district consumer forum has jurisdiction to entertain complaints where the value of the goods or services and the compensation, if any, claimed does not exceed Rs. 20 lakh.

      You have yourself mentioned that you had filed claim for compensation of Rs. 15 lakh. So, if the value of the plot and compensation claimed exceeds Rs. 20 lakh, then the district forum will not have jurisdiction. I don’t know how you are saying that your claim is actually only Rs. 3 lakh when you first mentioned that your compensation claim itself was Rs. 15 lakh. You could have revised your claim appropriately to bring it within the jurisdiction of the district forum before its dismissal.

      Now that your complaint has already been dismissed by district forum, you can appeal against this decision in the state commission. The district forum may have power to review its own order.

      Depending on what is the nature of the order passed by the district forum, you may also perhaps have the option of filing a complaint before the state commission with an application for condonation of delay (since now it appears to be time-barred after 3 years). However, get this issue examined from some local lawyer after showing him all relevant papers, in particular the order passed by the district forum.

           


      Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.

    • #3191

      Sir, Thank you, I really appriciate you taking time to respond to my query.
      It is only that I am in Delhi and the State Commission in my case is based out of Panchkula. So it is not possible to follow that path.
      I submitted my case (i.e. 15Lks) based on some other cases I came across during my application, but after some more experience I realized that those claims have been rejected by higher courts in many cases, so I did not even bother to share evidences and mentioned the same. The amount which is very much claimable is Rs. 3 – 5 lakhs. So that is my case.

      I am looking to try for PLA now. If you still have a suggestion for me that will be highly appreciated.
      Thanks and regards.

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