Instant complaint has been filed by Jeet Ram Smarak Trust alleging deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party bank pertaining to loan agreement between the parties.

At the outset, the first question which needs to be answered is whether or not Trust can maintain a consumer complaint. 

The issue whether Trust can maintain consumer complaint or not came up before the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Pratibha Pratisthan & Ors. Vs. Manager, Canara Bank and Ors. decided on 07.03.2017 in Civil Appeal No. 3560 of 2008.  In the said matter, Hon’ble Supreme Court after taking into the definition of ‘Complainant’, ‘Consumer’ and ‘Person’ as provided in Section 2 (1) (b), 2 (1) (d) and 2 (1) (m) has held that a Trust does not come within the definition of ‘consumer’ and cannot file a consumer complaint.  Relevant observations of the Apex Court is as under:

4. A reading of the definition of the words ‘complaint’, ‘complainant’ and ‘consumer’ makes it clear that a Trust cannot invoke the provisions of the Act in respect of any allegation on the basis of which a complaint could be made. To put this beyond any doubt, the word ‘person’ has also been defined in the Act and Section 2(m) thereof defines a person as follows :-

(m)    "person" includes, -

 (i)      a firm whether registered or not;

 (ii)    a Hindu undivided family;

(iii)    a co-operative society;

(iv)    every other association of  persons  whether  registered  under  the

Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or not

5. On a plain and simple reading of all the above provisions of the Act it is clear that a Trust is not a person and therefore not a consumer. Consequently, it cannot be a complainant and cannot file a consumer dispute under the provisions of the Act.

6. In view of the above, we are of opinion that the National Commission was quite right in holding that the complaint filed by the appellant Trust was not maintainable.

7. We have heard submissions of learned counsel for the parties on the merits of the dispute. However, since we have concluded that the complaint itself was not maintainable, we refrain from making any comment on the merits of the dispute.

8. The appeals are dismissed.

            In view of the above, it is clear that Complainant Trust is not a person and, therefore, not a consumer.  Consequently, it cannot be a complainant for the purpose of consumer complaint and cannot file the consumer complaint under the provisions of Consumer Protection Act.    Complaint is accordingly rejected with  no order as to costs.