• Deccan Chronicle
  • Andhra Bhoomi
  • Asian Age
  • ePaper
  •  Auto Refresh
Home

ePaper
Last Updated:10:16 PM IST | Saturday, Jan 28, 2023
  • Home
  • Politics, Plan And Policy
  • Markets
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • In Other News
  • Autos
  • Just In
Menu
  • Home
  • Politics, Plan And Policy
  • Markets
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • In Other News
  • Autos
  • Just In
Home > In Other News > Online buyers can seek legal recourse in city of residence
In Other News
Online buyers can seek legal recourse in city of residence
Sangeetha G
Sangeetha G
By  
  , Published : Aug 21, 2017, 1:16 am IST | Updated : Aug 21, 2017, 1:16 am IST

E-commerce buyers have been empowered to lodge a legal complaint for deficiency of services against sellers in their own city.

Online buyers can seek legal recourse in city of residence
Online buyers can seek legal recourse in city of residence

E-commerce buyers have been empowered to lodge a legal complaint for deficiency of services against sellers in their own city. They need not necessarily file their grievance in the city/town where the seller is located or registered.

The Supreme Court in a landmark decision has said any person who has purchased goods or services through online channel can initiate legal proceedings against the seller at the place from which the booking or purchase has been done online which would usually be the place, where he resides.

The apex court decision came on August 4 in a case pertaining to a consumer complaint against private airline SpiceJet Airlines.

In case of offline purchases, the current law insists that a complaint must be filed at the place where the trade or service provider is located or where the cause of action arises, regardless of where the consumer resides.

Industry experts hailed the Supreme Court order. “Today an e-commerce customer can make a purchase sitting anywhere and get the product delivered at doorsteps. The same facility is now available in the case of law as well. He can file the case sitting anywhere and get justice delivered home. A change in the law was much required to go along with the new business model the e-commerce has brought in,” said Rahul Sethi, a veteran in the e-commerce industry.

“This is a welcome ruling from the customer point of view. A customer cannot go to the city of the seller and sue him. In case of offline purchases the case is different because in most cases the customer buys the product from the same city,” said Harish H V, partner, Grant Thornton India.

However, for sellers this is going to be an additional issue to handle as the logistics and financial cost involved in fighting cases in different cities is going to be higher. The e-commerce has opened up a large market for them and on the flipside they will have to deal with legal issues arising anywhere in this large market.

“The larger sellers like WS Retail of Flipkart and Cloudtail of Amazon will be well-equipped and have the legal muscle to fight such cases from anywhere in the country. In the initial phase, there is a likelihood of such cases shooting up and the bigger players will have to reassess their legal strategy. The large e-commerce companies are doing millions of transactions a day and even a fraction of these move towards litigation, it is going to be a matter of worry for them,” said Sethi.

The smaller sellers will find it difficult to handle legal proceedings in different parts of the country. However, experts find the e-commerce players, which have been providing them a platform, technical, logistical and payment-related assistance, will help them out in the legal matters as well. In most of the cases, the e-commerce company will be party to the case. But the sellers will have to bear the financial cost involved in such cases.

Both Amazon and Flipkart declined to comment on the development.

Anil Kumar, CEO, RedSeer Consulting, does not find an escalation of consumer cases due to the ruling. “We do not have the habit of getting legal redressal for consumer problems. Even now, most of such cases are settled out of court. E-commerce players too would not want such issues to take a legal turn and affect their brand equity,” he said.

However, possibility of frivolous cases being filed too cannot be ruled out. There could be elements which want to take advantage of the  facility as the customer now has an upper hand in fighting it out. As the volumes grow, the e-commerce industry will have to find ways to check the misuse as well.

end-of
Location: 
India, Tamil Nadu, Chennai (Madras)
Latest From In Other News
Kaleshwaram Irrigation Project. Picture credits : ANI

NGT says environmental clearance for Kaleshwaram violates law

Internet and Mobile Association of India too had sought clarification on the issue. (Photo: PTI)

DPIIT to soon issue clarification on 26 pc FDI in digital media sector

In financial year 2018-19 the proportion of gross non-performing assets (NPAs) to total loans decreased to 9.1 per cent compared to 11.2 per cent in 2017-18.

RBI sees corporate governance 'fault lines' at some lenders

Most Popular

Mukesh Ambani 9th richest on Forbes' real-time billionaires list
Top credit card myths harmful for your financial well-being
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tops Fortune's Businessperson of the Year 2019
Employment growth slowed down in last two years: report
GST structure: key challenges and its solutions

Editor's Picks

Income tax e-filers drop by over 6.6 lakh in FY19: Official data
Swiping on your smartphone reveals a lot about you to your social media company
  • Read Financial Chronicle as it appears in print.
  • Subscribe, and get it delivered in the inbox everyday.
  • Politics, Plan And Policy
  • Markets
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • In Other News
  • Autos
  • Just In
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Guidelines
  • Copyright © 2019 Financial Chronicle, All rights reserved
Developed & Maintained By Daksham