Lesson 3 of 3 · 8 min
The consumer commission and your complaint
Three commissions under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, chosen by the amount involved, and a complaint you are allowed to write yourself.
| Commission | Value of the goods or service paid for | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| District Commission | Up to ₹50 lakh | You may file where YOU live or work — not only where the company sits |
| State Commission | More than ₹50 lakh and up to ₹2 crore | Also hears appeals from the district commissions of that state |
| National Commission | More than ₹2 crore | Sits in New Delhi, at the top of the same ladder |
A consumer complaint is a document you are allowed to write yourself, and what it has to carry is unglamorous. Who you are. Who the company is. What you paid, and when. What went wrong.
Then: what you already did about it, with the dates and the reference number. And what you want — the money back, the service delivered, compensation for the harm, or all three.
Attached to it: the receipt or the policy, the statement showing the debit, the e-mails, the firm's reply or the silence where one should be. Nothing here rewards good English. It rewards dates and documents.
The consumer commission, in four numbers
- Time limit to file
- Two years
- District Commission's ceiling
- ₹50 lakh
- What the Act asks for
- Three months
- Filing
- Online or on paper
From the date the cause of action arose. A commission may still take a later complaint, if it records in writing why the delay was excused.
Measured by what was paid for the good or service, under rules notified on 30 December 2021.
A decision within three months of notice going to the other side, or five where goods have to be tested. In practice it commonly runs longer, and the Act makes the commission record why.
The Act allows a complaint to be filed electronically, and a fee is payable as prescribed. The commissions' online platform is e-Jagriti.
I feel stupid, and I do not want to write it down
KabirTara
Kabirasking
Honestly, part of me does not want to file anything. I clicked the link. If I write the whole thing down, somebody at a desk reads it and thinks I am an idiot.
Taraexplaining
They read hundreds of these a month, and none of them is a character reference. Nothing on the form asks whether you were clever. It asks what happened, on what date, and what you want back.
Kabirasking
But it was my mistake. Doesn't that end it?
Taraexplaining
It changes nothing about whether the company owed you a service it did not give. That is the only question the commission answers. Your embarrassment is not one of the facts in the file.
Kabirasking
And if I get it wrong — wrong forum, wrong words, wrong form?
Taraexplaining
Then somebody tells you, and you file again in the right place. The helpline on 1915 exists for that. The only door that shuts for good is the two-year one, and it is closing whether or not you feel ready.
Put these in order
Put the whole ladder in the order it actually works.
- Appeal, within the window the rules allow, if an award goes against you and you have grounds
- If the ombudsman cannot decide it, or the loss is larger than it may award, file with the consumer commission
- Take it to the sector's ombudsman, free, with the firm's reply or its silence attached
- Wait out the clock the rules give that firm — 30 days for a bank, a month for an insurer, 21 days on SCORES
- Complain to the company's grievance officer in writing, and hold the reference number
Just for you
If a payment vanished from your account tomorrow: do you know where your bank names its grievance officer, and what date the clock would start counting from?
This stays in your browser and is never sent anywhere — not to us, not to anyone. It disappears when you leave the page.
Check yourself
1 / 3
Kabir asks
You paid ₹40,000 for a service that was never delivered. Which commission hears it?
Done reading?
Saved in this browser — and finishes the course.