Supreme Court seeks Centre's view on whether charitable trusts qualify as consumers

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the Centre’s stand on whether a charitable trust falls under the definition of consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

A Bench led by Justice Abhay S Oka while making the Ministry of Consumer Affairs as a party to the case sought its assistance in interpreting the word "consumer" under the Act. The case will be further heard on October 16.

The definition of “consumer” under Section 2(1)(d) of the 1986 Act includes any “person” who buys goods or avails services for consideration, excluding those who purchase goods or services for resale or commercial purposes.


While a 2017 SC judgement had held that a trust would not be a person and, consequently, not a consumer within the meaning of the Act, the apex court in 2019 had referred the issue to a larger bench to reconsider the 2017 ruling.

In this case, Administrator Smt Tara Bai Desai Charitable Opthalmic Trust Hospital, Jodhpur vs Managing Director, Supreme Elevators India, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Jodhpur, had accepted the Trusts’ claim and directed Supreme Elevators to pay Rs 5,90,000 compensation with 9% interest per annum to the Trust.

However, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, on appeal, had ruled in favour of Supreme Elevators on the ground that a trust could not be a "consumer" within the meaning of the Act. This was upheld by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, against whose decision the Trust moved the SC.

While referring the issue to a larger bench, the SC in 2019 said that the definition of person in terms of the Act is an inclusive definition, thus a consumer means any person who buys any goods for consideration or hires or avails any services for consideration. Therefore, the apex court held that a trust may also come within the purview of the definition of person under the Act.