LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled that a petition before a district consumer court without a prior legal notice to a defendant by the consumer cannot be dismissed as incompetent.

Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti states this while dismissing an appeal by a courier company challenging a decision of Lahore’s consumer court whereby it was ordered to pay damages of Rs100,000 to a consumer/complainant.

The complainant, Syed Naeemuddin, had dispatched some documents to Immigration Tribunal of the UK, where an appeal for asylum was pending disposal, through the TCS on payment of charges claimed by the officials of the company and receipt was also issued against the booking. However, the said documents were not dispatched to destination on the pretext of shortage of payment. As a result, the immigration appeal was rejected and the complainant suffered enormous loss as well as intense mental torture. Resultantly, he filed the complaint before the consumer court that passed the impugned decision.

In the appeal, the company argued that the claim before the consumer court was not maintainable without issuing notice under sub-section (3) of section 28 of Punjab Consumer Protection Act, 2005.

In his verdict, Justice Bhatti observes the appellant had booked the shipment after receiving requisite charges and issued the receipt in this regard, which left no justification to retain and not transmitting shipment to destination for any reason, let alone deficiency of charges. He holds that on account of sheer mismanagement and negligence of the appellant, the documents could not reach their destination and the consignee of the shipment suffered tangible and irreparable loss in the shape of dismissal of his appeal.

The judge further notes that the company/appellant resisted the claim of the complainant by filing written statement on legal as well as factual grounds. And the consumer court, after recording evidence of the parties, awarded an amount as damages.

“I am afraid that the contention of learned counsel for the appellants that damages petition before the Consumer Court, without issuing/sending notice as envisaged under sub-section (3) of section 28 of Punjab Consumer Protection Act, 2005 was neither maintainable nor entertainable, is also not tenable (sic),” the judge rules.

Justice Bhatti remarks that a petition before the consumer court cannot be dismissed as incompetent solely for the non-compliance of procedural formalities. He writes that the significance of the notice is only, to his mind, to provide opportunity to manufacture or service provider to settle the dispute outside the court, which can even be availed on first appearance in court, whereas in this case, the appellants have hotly contested the matter in court.

“Resultantly, the instant appeal having no merits stands dismissed,” the verdict concludes.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2020