Burden to prove transaction as commercial is on the Defendant
Shubham Budhiraja [1] Mr. A subscribed to the chit tickets of chit fund company. The chit company stopped the business and Mr. A instituted consumer case seeking refund of deposits made in chit fund. The chit company took a plea that Mr. A is not a consumer because transaction is for commercial purpose. The Learned District Forum, Hon’ble State Commission and Hon’ble NCDRC favoured the complainant. The Hon’ble Supreme Court held as under [2] : (i) To file a complaint, one must be a complainant and for one to be a complainant, he must be a consumer. If a person fails to come within the definition of a consumer, he cannot be a complainant and therefore, such person cannot file a complaint under the Act. (ii) The definition of consumer has three parts. The significance of deconstructing the definition into three parts was for the purpose of explaining on whom lies the onus to prove each of the different parts. There can hardly be any dispute t