Mitali Palnitkar
Published On: February 25, 2022 at 16:20 IST
An Order passed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) which returned a Complaint unadjudicated due to misjoinder of parties was set aside by the Supreme Court.
The Bench comprised Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramaninan. It observed that if the Complaint is returned unadjudicated with the liberty to file fresh Complaint, then an issue of limitation will arise.
The Bench termed the approach of NCDRC “Erroneous” and observed that in case of misjoinder of parties, instead of returning the Complaint, the unnecessary parties shall be deleted.
The NCDRC Order dated September 27, 2021 was set aside by the Court and it remitted the matter for fresh decision in accordance with law.
The issue was with respect to a Complaint against an Insurance Company. The NCDRC took objection to the Complainant adding the Insurance Surveyor as a party to the Case.
In its Order, the NCDRC stated that there was not only misjoinder of parties but also that the Insurance Company and its Surveyor and Loss Assessor were inextricably conjoined together.
In NCDRC’s view, due to the confounding overlappings, a mechanical deletion of the opposite party that is the Surveyor and Loss Assessor from the array of parties would make the Complaint disjointed and may cause embarrassment to its Adjudication on merit.
However, the Court observed that Surveyor and Loss Assessor were made party in the Case as there were allegations against the Surveyor in the Complaint. Thus, as per the Principles of Natural Justice, if there are allegations against a person then an opportunity shall be given to rebut the allegations.
It was further observed that the Surveyor was not compelled to claim compensation but as a party due to the allegations against it.
Therefore, the Surveyor and Loss Assessor was in fact the necessary party in the Case, however to appear before the NCDRC or not is upon the Surveyor.