Once Vehicle Is Sold During Pendency of the Complaint, Complainant Ceases to Be ‘Consumer’: The Consumer Protection Act, 1986

If the complainant sells the good/commodity/product which forms the subject matter of the complaint or appeal arising from the complaint during the pendency of the complaint or appeal, then the complainant ceases to be ‘consumer’ within the meaning of Section 2 (1) (d) of the CPA.

An appeal preferred against a decree is seen as continuation of suit, and till the time the suit continues, the rights and liabilities of the parties to the proceedings do not get crystallized. Although ‘complaint’ preferred under the CPA is not a ‘suit’ in the literal sense but the same logic applies to it as that which is applicable to a ‘suit’ preferred under the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, that is to say, if against the judgment passed by the Hon’ble Forum in a complaint preferred before it, an appeal is preferred by the opposite party then the rights and liabilities of the parties to the lis remain res sub judice and do not become res judicata. Thus, even if during the pendency of an appeal the subject matter of the consumer complaint, that is, the good/commodity/product is sold off by the complainant then the complainant ceases to be ‘consumer’ within the definitional scope of Section 2 (1) (d) of the CPA.