Lok Sabha Question No. 2625 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-01
Subject: Protection against Unfair Contracts
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Tejpratap Singh,Yadav

## Government of India

## Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2625 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.08.2017

## PROTECTION AGAINST UNFAIR CONTRACTS

## 2625.  SHRI TEJ PRATAP SINGH YADAV:

## Will  the  Minister  of  CONSUMER  AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND  PUBLIC  DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  under  the  present  laws,  the  contracts  are  unilateral  and  there  is  no  protection  of consumers against unfair contracts;
- (b) if  so,  whether  unfair  terms  in  contracts  are  skewed  in  favour  of  service  providers  and manufacturers;
- (c) if so, whether the Law Commission has suggested additional provisions in Indian Contract Act and Specific Relief Act to protect the consumers;
- (d) if so, whether there is an urgent need to amend the Consumer Protection Act; and
- (e) if so, the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k jkT; ea=h ¼Jh lh- vkj- pkS/kjh½

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

- (a) & (b) : No  Madam.  The Indian  Contract  Act,  1872 determines  obligations  of  the  parties  to perform or offer to perform respective promises unless such performance is dispensed with or excused under the provisions of the Act, or of any other law.
- (c)        : As informed by the Law Commission of India, the Law Commission examined the law of contracts  including  consumer  contracts  in  its  Report  No.199  on  'Unfair  (Procedural  and  Substantive) Terms in Contracts' in 2006. The Commission was of the view that it has become necessary to provide additional provisions for redressal against unfair terms of contracts, apart from the existing provisions contained  in  the  Indian  Contract  Act  and  Specific  Relief  Act.  Therefore,  it  decided  to  bring  in  new provisions  to  deal  with  'procedural'  and  'substantive'  unfairness,  and  that,  at  the  same  time,  did  not propose to disturb the existing provisions of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and of the Specific Relief Act, 1963. The  Commission  proposed  to  have  'general  provisions'  both  for 'procedural' and 'substantive'  unfairness  in  the  new  Bill  titled  'The  Unfair  (Procedural  and  Substantive)  Terms  of Contracts Act, 2006' (annexed to the said report). The proposed Bill aimed to declare certain provisions of  the  laws  relating  to  contracts  and  specific  performance,  as  procedural  and  substantive,  to  further define  unfairness  in  contracts,  as  procedural  and  substantive,  to  determine  impact  of  unfairness  on contracts, to provide guidelines for such determination and to enable Courts to grant certain reliefs to relieve parties from the effect of unfairness in contracts.
- (d) & (e)   : The  Government  has  already introduced the Consumer  Protection Bill, 2015  in Parliament  to  replace  the  existing  Consumer  Protection  Act,  1986.    The  Bill  provides  for  redressal against unfair contracts having terms unfair to the consumers.

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