PER HON’BLE MS.DR.RICHA SHARMA, PRESIDENT.

Complaint is filed under section 35 of consumer protection act 2019.

Facts of the complaint are:

The complainant no.1 is the owner of M/S Paradise located in Tirupati Udyog Nagar, Waliv, Vasai District Palghar having GST number 27cbyPG 9906 l i z p. Complainant no.2 is the owner of M/s CureEase Healthcare having GST number 27 BK mpg 5589d2 ZS. The complainant is in the business of manufacturing sanitary pad. For the purpose of the business the complainant ordered a manufacturing machine from the opponent M/s Diya industries, which was faulty. The opponent failed to resolve the defect due to which the complainant states that the complainant could not manufacture  the product and suffered financial loss. The complainant  states that they have to pay salary to their employees pay rent of the shop and electricity bill and therefore they have filed this complaint.

The complainants are a commercial establishment and in the business of manufacturing . Therefore,  the complaint does not fall in the purview of the commission. The complainants do not fall under the definition of consumer under section 7 of the Consumer Protection Act 2019. Under S(7) ""consumer" means any person who— (i) buys any goods for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment and includes any user of such goods other than the person who buys such goods for consideration paid or promised or partly paid or partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment, when such use is made with the approval of such person, but does not include a person who obtains such goods for resale or for any commercial purpose; or (ii) hires or avails of any service for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment and includes any beneficiary of such service other than the person who hires or avails of the services for consideration paid or promised, or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment, when such services are availed of with the approval of the first mentioned person, but does not include a person who avails of such service for any commercial purpose. Explanation. —For the purposes of this clause, — (a) the expression "commercial purpose" does not include use by a person of goods bought and used by him exclusively for the purpose of earning his livelihood, by means of self-employment; (b) the expressions "buys any goods" and "hires or avails any services" includes offline or online transactions through electronic means or by teleshopping or direct selling or multi-level marketing;"

The Hon'ble Supreme Court  in  the  case  of  Laxmi  Engineering Works  Vs.  P.S.G.  Industrial  Institute (1995 SCC 3 583), ruled  as  under “12 iii.  Now  coming  back  to  the  definition  of the  expression  ‘consumer’  in  Section  2(d),  a consumer  means  insofar  as  is  relevant  for the  purpose  of  this  appeal,  (i)  a  person  who buys  any  goods  for  consideration;  it  is  immaterial  whether  the  consideration  is  paid or   promised,   or  partly  paid  and  partly promised,  or  whether  the  payment  of  consideration   is  deferred;  (ii)  a  person  who uses  such  goods  with  the  approval  of  the person  who  buys  such  goods  for  consideration;  (iii)  but  does  not  include  a  person  who buys  such  goods  for  resale  or  for  any  commercial  purpose.  The  expression  ‘resale’  is clear  enough.  Controversy  has,  however, arisen  with  respect  to  meaning  of  the expression  “commercial  purpose”.  It  is also  not  defined  in  the  Act.  In  the  absence  of  a  definition,  we  have  to  go  byits  ordinary  meaning.  ‘Commercial’  denotes  “pertaining  to  commerce”  (Cham ber's  Twentieth  Century  Dictionary);  it means  “connected  with,  or  engaged  in commerce;  mercantile;  having  profit  as the  main  aim”  (Collins  English  Dictio nary)   whereas   the   word   ‘commerce’ means   “financial   transactions   especially  buying  and  selling  of  merchandise,  on  a  large   scale”  (Concise  Oxford Dictionary).  The  National  Commission  appears  to  have  been  taking  a  consistent  view that  where  a  person  purchases  goods  “with a  view  to  using  such  goods  for  carrying  on any  activity  on  a  large  scale  for  the  purpose of   earning  profit”  he  will  not  be  a  ‘consumer’  within  the  meaning  of  Section  2(d)(i) of  the  Act.  Broadly  affirming  the  said  view and  more  particularly  with  a  view  to  obviate  any  confusion  —  the  expression  “large scale”  is  not  a  very  precise  expression  — Parliament  stepped  in  and  added  the explanation  to  Section  2(d)(i)  by  Ordinance/Amendment  Act,  1993.  The  explanation   excludes   certain   purposes from   the  purview   of  the  expression “commercial  purpose”  —  a  case  of  exception  to  an  exception.  Let  us  elaborate a  person  who  buys  a  typewriter  or  a  car and  uses  them  for  his  personal  use  is  cer tainly  a  consumer  but  a  person  who  buys  a typewriter  or  a  car  for  typing  others'  work for  consideration  or  for  plying  the  car  as  a taxi   can   be   said   to   be   using   the typewriter/car  for  a  commercial  purpose. The  explanation  however  clarifies  that  in certain  situations,  purchase  of  goods  for “commercial  purpose”  would  not  yet  take the  purchaser  out  of  the  definition  of          expression  ‘consumer’.   If  the  commercial use  is  by  the  purchaser  himself  for  the purpose  of  earning  his  livelihood  by means  of  self employment,   such  purchaser  of  goods  is  yet  a  ‘consumer’.  In the   illustration   given  above,  if  the  purchaser  himself  works  on  typewriter  or  plies the  car  as  a  taxi  himself,  he  does  not  cease to  be  a  consumer.  In  other  words,  if  the buyer  of  goods  uses  them  himself,  i.e.,  by selfemployment,  for  earning  his  livelihood, it  would  not  be  treated  as  a  “commercial purpose”  and  he  does  not  cease  to  be  a consumer  for  the  purposes  of  the  Act.  The explanation  reduces  the  question,  what is  a  “commercial  purpose”,  to  a  question  of  fact  to  be  decided  in  the  facts  of each  case.  It  is  not  the  value  of  the goods  that  matters  but  the  purpose  to which  the  goods  bought  are  put  to.  The several  words  employed  in  the  explanation,  viz.,  “uses  them  by  himself”,  “exclusively  for  the  purpose  of  earning  hislivelihood”  and  “by  means  of  selfemployment”  make  the  intention  of  Parliament  abundantly  clear,  that  the  goods bought  must  be  used  by  the  buyer  himself,  by  employing  himself  for  earning his  livelihood.  A  few  more  illustrations would  serve  to  emphasise  what  we  say.  A person  who  purchases  an  autorickshaw  to ply  it  himself  on  hire  for  earning  his  livelihood  would  be  a  consumer.  Similarly,  a purchaser  of  a  truck  who  purchases  it  for plying   it  as  a  public  carrier  by  himself would  be  a  consumer.  A  person  who  purchases a  lathe  machine  or  other  machine to operate  it  himself  for  earning  his  livelihood would  be  a  consumer.  (In  the  above  illustrations,  if  such  buyer  takes  the  assistance of  one  or  two  persons  to  assist/help  him  in operating  the  vehicle  or  machinery,  he  does not  cease  to  be  a  consumer.)  As  against this  a  person  who  purchases  an  autorickshaw,  a  car  or  a  lathe  machine  or  other machine  to  be  plied  or  operated  exclusively by  another  person  would  not  be  a  consumer.  This  is  the  necessary  limitation flowing  from  the  expressions  “used  by him”,   and  “by  means  of  selfemploy ment”  in  the  explanation.  The  ambiguity  in  the  meaning  of  the  words  “for  the purpose  of  earning  his  livelihood”  is  explained  and  clarified  by  the  other  two sets  of  words.”

In view of the above explanation provided by the Honorable Supreme Court, the complainant is a business and not a consumer. Therefore, this complaint can not be admitted.

ORDER

1.The complaint number CC/67/ 2024 is hereby dismissed and not admitted

2.No orders to as to costs

3.The certified copies of this order are to be furnished to the complainant free of cost

4.The members' sets shall be returned to the complainant. In case the complainant fails to collect the sets in the 30 days from the receipt of the copy of the order, the same may be destroyed.