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Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) v. Vidya Chetal

Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2019 INSC 1035Decided 16 Sept 2019
Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 4272 of 2015 (Diary No. 365 of 2015)
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar · Justice Ajay Rastogi

Background

This judgment answers a legal reference; it does not decide the petitions themselves. An earlier bench doubted HUDA v. Sunita (2005), which had held that consumer forums cannot examine the legality of fees such as composition fee and extension fee charged by a statutory authority.

Decision Breakdown

This is not a final judgment in the petitions. The Court held that consumer forums do have jurisdiction where such charges arise out of a service the authority provides, and overruled Sunita to that extent. It directed that the special leave petitions be placed before an appropriate bench to be decided on merits.

Lesson Learnt

A statutory authority that provides a service can be taken to a consumer forum over fees it charges for that service.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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