Power of Central Government to make rules
Commencement. 24th July, 2020.-- S. 2 clauses (4), (13), (14), (16), (40), s. 10 to 27 (both inclusive), sub-clause (iv) of clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 58, s. 88, 89, 92 and 93, 94, 96, 97 and 99, clause (f) to (m) of sub-section 2 and clauses (zg), (zh) and (zi) of sub-section 2 of s. 101, 104, vide notification No. S.O. 2421(E), dated 23rd July 2020, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii).
Section 101 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 deals with power of Central Government to make rules. The Central Government may, by notification, make rules for carrying out any of the provisions contained in this Act. The Act was enacted on 09 Aug 2019.
(1) The Central Government may, by notification, make rules for carrying out any of the provisions contained in this Act.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for, --
(a) the other class or classes of persons including public utility entities under clause (19) of section 2;
(b) the contest, lottery, game of chance or skill which are to be exempted under item (b) of subclause (iii) of clause (47) of section 2;
(c) the manner of issuing bill or cash memo or receipt for goods sold or services rendered under sub-clause (vii) of clause (47) of section 2;
(d) the number of other official or non-official members of the Central Council under clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 3;
(e) the time and place of meeting of Central Council and the procedure for the transaction of its business under sub-section (2) of section 4;
(f) the number of Commissioners in the Central Authority under sub-section (2) of section 10;
(g) the qualifications for appointment, method of recruitment, procedure of appointment, term of office, salaries and allowances, resignation, removal and other terms and conditions of service of the Chief Commissioner and other Commissioners of the Central Authority under section 11;
(h) the salaries and allowances payable to, and the other terms and conditions of service of, the officers and other employees of the Central Authority under sub-section (2) of section 13;
(i) the qualifications for appointment of Director General, Additional Director General, Director, Joint Director, Deputy Director and Assistant Director and the manner of appointment under subsection (2) of section 15;
(j) the manner of taking copies or extracts of document, record or article seized or produced before returning to the person under sub-section (3) of section 22;
(k) the officer and the manner of disposing of articles which are subject to speedy or natural decay under sub-section (4) of section 22;
(l) the form and manner for preparing annual statement of accounts by the Central Authority in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India under sub-section (1) of section 26;
(m) the form in which, and the time within which, an annual report, other reports and returns may be prepared by the Central Authority under sub-section (1) of section 27;
(n) the qualifications for appointment, method of recruitment, procedure for appointment, term of office, resignation and removal of President and members of the District Commission under section 29;
(o) the other value of goods and services in respect of which the District Commission shall have jurisdiction to entertain complaints under proviso to sub-section (1) of section 34;
(p) the manner of electronically filing complaint under the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 35;
(q) the fee, electronic form and the manner of payment of fee for filing complaint under sub-section (2) of section 35;
(r) the cases which may not be referred for settlement by mediation under sub-section (1) of section 37;
(s) the manner of authentication of goods sampled in case of the National Commission under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 38;
(t) any other matter which may be prescribed under clause (f) of sub-section (9) of section 38;
(u) the fund where the amount obtained may be credited and the manner of utilisation of such amount under sub-section (2) of section 39;
(v) the form and the manner in which appeal may be preferred to the State Commission under section 41;
(w) the qualifications for appointment, method of recruitment, procedure for appointment, term of office, resignation and removal of the President and members of the State Commission under section 43;
(x) the other value of goods and services in respect of which the State Commission shall have jurisdiction under the proviso to sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 47;
(y) the form and manner of filing appeal to the National Commission, and the manner of depositing fifty per cent. of the amount before filing appeal, under sub-section (1) of section 51;
(z) the number of members of the National Commission under clause (b) of section 54;
(za) the qualifications, appointment, term of office, salaries and allowances, resignation, removal and other terms and conditions of service of the President and members of the National Commission under sub-section (1) of section 55;
(zb) the salaries and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of, the officers and other employees of the National Commission under sub-section (3) of section 57;
(zc) the other value of goods and services in respect of which the National Commission shall have jurisdiction under the proviso to sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 58;
(zd) the manner of depositing fifty per cent. of the amount under the second proviso to section 67;
(ze) the form in which the National Commission and the State Commission shall furnish information to the Central Government under sub-section (4) of section 70;
(zf) the persons in the consumer mediation cell under sub-section (3) of section 74;
(zg) the measures to be taken by the Central Government to prevent unfair trade practices in e-commerce, direct selling under section 94;
(zh) the amount for compounding offences under sub-section (1) of section 96;
(zi) the fund to which the penalty and amount collected shall be credited under section 97; and
(zj) any other matter which is to be, or may be, prescribed, or in respect of which provisions are to be, or may be, made by rules
Section 101, The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (Act 35 of 2019).
Cross-references
Extracted from the operative text of the enactments themselves. Every destination below exists in our corpus.
This section refers to
- s. 2 Definitions
- s. 3 Central Consumer Protection Council
- s. 4 Procedure for meetings of Central Council
- s. 10 Establishment of Central Consumer Protection Authority
- s. 11 Qualifications, method of recruitment, etc., of Chief Commissioner and Commissioners
- s. 13 Appointment of officers, experts, professionals and other employees of Central Authority
- s. 15 Investigation Wing
- s. 22 Search and seizure
- s. 26 Accounts and audit
- s. 27 Furnishing of annual reports, etc
- s. 29 Qualifications, etc., of President and members of District Commission
- s. 34 Jurisdiction of District Commission
- s. 35 Manner in which complaint shall be made
- s. 37 Reference to mediation
- s. 38 Procedure on admission of complaint
- s. 39 Findings of District Commission
- s. 41 Appeal against order of District Commission
- s. 43 Qualifications, etc., of President and members of State Commission
- s. 47 Jurisdiction of State Commission
- s. 51 Appeal to National Commission
- s. 54 Composition of National Commission
- s. 55 Qualifications, etc., of President and members of National Commission
- s. 57 Other officers and employees of National Commission
- s. 58 Jurisdiction of National Commission
- s. 67 Appeal against order of National Commission
- s. 70 Administrative control
- s. 74 Establishment of consumer mediation cell
- s. 94 Measures to prevent unfair trade practices in e-commerce, direct selling, etc
- s. 96 Compounding of offences
- s. 97 Manner of crediting penalty
Related judgements & precedents
These are some judgments that construed this section, and hold precedence value. They hold authority on how to read, interpret and use this section.
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The State of Maharashtra vs Dr. Mahindra Bhaskar Limaye
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
The Court held that Rule 3(2)(b), Rule 4(2)(c) and Rule 6(9) of the Consumer Protection (Qualification for appointment, method of recruitment, procedure of appointment, term of office, resignation and removal of the President and members of the State Commission and District Commission) Rules, 2020 are arbitrary and violative of Article 14: the reduced experience criteria and the wholly discretionary selection procedure left appointments to quasi-judicial consumer commissions without objective, merit-based assessment.
On this section: It tests rules made under the Act's rule-making power against Article 14 and the tribunal-appointment standards, holding that delegated legislation framed under this power cannot dilute the qualifications and selection safeguards required for quasi-judicial members, and directs that selection include a written test and viva voce.
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The State of Maharashtra vs Vijaykumar Bhima Dighe
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
Decided along with the Limaye appeals, the Court struck down the 2020 Rules' appointment provisions for State and District Consumer Commissions as an arbitrary selection procedure, held that a mandatory written test must form part of the selection, and rejected the attempt to reduce the experience criteria for President and members.
On this section: It holds that rules made under this rule-making power are open to constitutional challenge and cannot, by legislative or executive override, displace the transparency and merit requirements the Court has laid down for tribunal appointments.
The holding above is the ratio decidendi as extracted from the judgment by eCourts India, reproduced unaltered — it is a rendering of the court's reasoning, not a substitute for its words. Read the order itself before relying on it.
Judgments citing this section
These may be obiter dicta or a precedent, for you to study. These are the judgments where this section is quoted.
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… 2020) as arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Union of India and State of Maharashtra have preferred the present appeals. - 2. In exercise of powers conferred by Sections 29 and 43, read with clauses (n) and (w) of Sub-section (2) of Section 101 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Act, 2019), the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (Department of Consumer Affairs) framed the Rules, 2020. - 2.1 Rule 3 of Rules, 2020 provides for qualifications for appointment of President and members of the State …
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… 2020) as arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Union of India and State of Maharashtra have preferred the present appeals. - 2. In exercise of powers conferred by Sections 29 and 43, read with clauses (n) and (w) of Sub-section (2) of Section 101 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Act, 2019), the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (Department of Consumer Affairs) framed the Rules, 2020. - 2.1 Rule 3 of Rules, 2020 provides for qualifications for appointment of President and members of the State …
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… 2020) as arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Union of India and State of Maharashtra have preferred the present appeals. - 2. In exercise of powers conferred by Sections 29 and 43, read with clauses (n) and (w) of Sub-section (2) of Section 101 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Act, 2019), the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (Department of Consumer Affairs) framed the Rules, 2020. - 2.1 Rule 3 of Rules, 2020 provides for qualifications for appointment of President and members of the State …
Made under this section, and citing it
1 instrument states that it was made under this provision — the power to make it comes from here, so a change to any of them changes what this section requires in practice. Newest first.
Questions about Section 101
What have the courts held on Section 101 of the Consumer Protection Act?
The State of Maharashtra vs Dr. Mahindra Bhaskar Limaye (03 Mar 2023) is the leading judgment on this section among those set out below: It tests rules made under the Act's rule-making power against Article 14 and the tribunal-appointment standards, holding that delegated legislation framed under this power cannot dilute the qualifications and selection safeguards required for quasi-judicial members, and directs that selection include a written test and viva voce. Another 1 judgment on this section is set out below, all of them from the Supreme Court.
How do I find court cases under Section 101 of the Consumer Protection Act?
In judgments and charge sheets this section is written several ways, and each form finds a different set of orders. These search the full text of every order eCourtsIndia holds, best matches first: Consumer Protection Act 101, section 101 Consumer Protection Act, section 101 of the Consumer Protection Act. People searching for it also type section 101 of consumer protection act. Each opens the full list of orders on eCourtsIndia, where it can be narrowed by court, year and outcome. 2 reported judgments on this section are set out on this page, beginning with The State of Maharashtra vs Dr. Mahindra Bhaskar Limaye (03 Mar 2023).
What should I read with Section 101 of the Consumer Protection Act, and has it changed?
Its own text turns on section 2 (Definitions), section 3 (Central Consumer Protection Council), section 4 (Procedure for meetings of Central Council), section 10 (Establishment of Central Consumer Protection Authority), and on 26 further provisions, so none of them can safely be read on its own. The rules and notifications made under it are where it actually bites, and there is one: most recently Direct Selling Mechanism Order of Consumer Protection Act 2019 (2025).
When was Section 101 of the Consumer Protection Act enacted?
Section 101 of the Consumer Protection Act, cited as Consumer Protection Act 101, was enacted on 09 Aug 2019 as Act 35 of 2019. It is in force as at the date shown on this page.
Other sections of this Act
- 2. Definitions3979 words
- 38. Procedure on admission of complaint1381 words
- 39. Findings of District Commission553 words
- 102. Power of State Government to make rules517 words
- 47. Jurisdiction of State Commission493 words
- 21. Power of Central Authority to issue directions and penalties against false or misleading advertisements469 words
Source and method. Compiled from the enactments of Parliament and of the State legislatures as published on India Code, and republished together with commentary and other original matter under section 52(1)(q)(ii) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Structured, cross-referenced and maintained by eCourtsIndia. Text as in force on 15 Oct 2026. This page is not a substitute for legal advice.