Section 19 of the Consumer Protection Act lays down that any person aggrieved by an order made by the State Commission in exercise of its powers conferred by sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of Section 17 may prefer an appeal against such order to the National Commission. Thus, an appeal can be filed to the National Commission (NCDRC) only where the State Commission has passed order under Section 17(a)(i). Such order under Section 17(a)(i) is passed by State Commission in its original jurisdiction, i.e., when it is hearing a direct complaint where the amount involved exceeds Rs. 20 lakh but does not exceed Rs. 1 crore (and not in an appeal from District Forum). Your case is not covered under this provision, so appeal would not be maintainable to the NCDRC.
Though Section 21 of the Act appears to giving wider powers to NCDRC of entertaining appeals against orders of a State Commission, however, the opening words of this section are: “Subject to the other provisions of this Act…”. Therefore, the power under Section 21 would be controlled by the above provisions of Section 19. In view of this, in your case, you cannot file appeal before the National Commission (NCDRC).
On the other hand, the revision power of the National Commission is provided under Section 21(b) of the Act as under:
“(b) to call for the records and pass appropriate orders in any consumer dispute which is pending before or has been decided by any State Commission where it appears to the National Commission that such State Commission has exercised a jurisdiction not vested in it by law, or has failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested, or has acted in the exercise of its jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity.”
This provision does not appear to be barring a revision against the revision order of the State Commission, i.e., the language of this provision does not appear to be prohibiting second revision by the National Commission. Therefore, you may try it. However, please note that the revision power is a limited power, subject to conditions mentioned above.
Another option could be to challenge the order of the State Commission before the High Court by filing a writ petition. So, if it found that second revision (before the National Commission) is not maintainable, then in view of there being no alternative remedy, a writ petition may perhaps be possible with the High Court.
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.
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