CCPA Imposed Penalty of Rs 1 Lakh on Flipkart for Selling Sub-standard Pressure Cookers to Consumers

The Central Consumer Protection Authority passed an order on violation of consumer rights by e-commerce platform ‘Flipkart’ for allowing sale of domestic pressure cookers in violation to mandatory standards.

The CCPA, which is led by Chief Commissioner Mrs. Nidhi Khare, has ordered Flipkart to inform customers about all 598 pressure cookers sold on its site, recall the cookers, pay customers for their purchase costs, and submit a compliance report regarding the directive within 45 days.

The company has also been directed to pay a penalty of ₹1,00,000 for allowing sale of such pressure cookers on its e-commerce platform and violating rights of consumers.

The Central Government periodically issues Quality Control Orders (QCOs) requiring a product’s mandatory adherence to a standard and the use of a standard mark in the interest of protecting customers from danger of harm and injury, as well as the general public. All household pressure cookers must comply with IS 2347:2017 under the Domestic Pressure Cooker (Quality Control) Order, which took effect on 01.02.2021. Because of this, starting on 01.02.2021 all pressure cookers must comply with IS 2347:2017, and either online or offline sales of pressure cookers must follow due diligence procedures.

The CCPA noted that clauses in the “Flipkart Terms of Use” such as the requirement to write “Powered by Flipkart” on every product invoice and the designation of sellers as Gold, Silver, and Bronze for the purpose of awarding various benefits point to the role Flipkart played in the sale of pressure cookers on its e-commerce platform.

Flipkart acknowledged that the sale of these pressure cookers on its e-commerce platform generated a total fee of 1,84,263. According to CCPA, Flipkart cannot disassociate itself from its role and responsibility related to the sale of such pressure cookers to consumers when it has benefited commercially from doing so.

The CCPA has started a nationwide campaign to stop the sale of fake and counterfeit goods that breach QCOs set by the Central Government in order to increase consumer knowledge and quality consciousness. Helmets, domestic pressure cookers, and cooking gas cylinders are examples of daily-use devices that were identified as part of the campaign.

BIS has carried out searches as part of the campaign and has seized a number of unusual helmets and pressure cookers. BIS has confiscated 1,435 pressure cookers and 1,088 helmets that did not meet the requirements.

In order to direct necessary legal action and guarantee compliance with standards mandated for mandatory usage by the Central Government to protect consumer interests, the CCPA has also written to the Chief Secretaries of all states and U.Ts.

Additionally, the CCPA has written to the Director General of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) requesting that he properly notify all of the bureau’s regional branches that violations of mandatory standards should be immediately investigated in accordance with the BIS Act’s 2016 requirements.

Since the Department of Consumer Affairs introduced the new short code “1915,” an increasing number of consumers have reported complaints to the National Consumer Helpline. It is important to remember that the majority of complaints filed on NCH continue to concern e-commerce. 38% of all complaints on NCH in the month of July 2022 were about e-commerce. Delivery of a damaged product, inability to reimburse a payment, late delivery of a product, among other major categories of consumer complaints in e-commerce.

In accordance with Section 18(2)(j) of the Act, the CCPA has also issued Safety Notices to inform and forbid customers from purchasing products that lack a genuine ISI Mark and contravene mandatory BIS standards. The second Safety Notice was published on household items such as electric immersion water heaters, sewing machines, microwave ovens, domestic gas stoves with LPG, etc., whereas the first Safety Notice was given regarding helmets, pressure cookers, and cooking gas cylinders.