KERALA HOTEL AND RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION Vs. THRISSUR DISTRICT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner in this writ petition is the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association represented by its Secretary. They are aggrieved by the action of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Thrissur in entertaining a complaint filed by the Kerala Consumer Education Society, the 2nd respondent herein, complaining about the steep increase in prices of food articles in hotels and restaurants in Kerala and seeking appropriate directions to the Corporation, the District Collector and the District Supply Officer to regulate the prices of food articles in restaurants and hotels by appropriate classification of the hotels and fixing the prices of food articles to be sold in hotels and restaurants. Their contention is that Ext.P1 complaint is not maintainable at all under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. They would submit that Ext.P1 complaint is not filed by a consumer or on behalf of a consumer or consumers who only can file an application before the CDRF. Secondly they would contend that the complaint is based on a newspaper report and a complaint based on a newspaper report is not maintainable. Thirdly they would contend that before entertaining a complaint, the CDRF is bound to consider whether the compliant is maintainable and entertaining of a complaint is not automatic. In support of that contention, they rely upon the decision of this Court in Fon -Ess India (P) Ltd. v. Kerala State Consumer D.R. Commission [2006 (3) KLT 500]. They would further contend that the pricing of food articles in hotels and restaurants cannot be regulated by either the Government or the Corporation and it is the absolute discretion of the restaurants to fix the price of food articles sold by them, in the absence of any law authorising them to do so, which has been held so by this Court in Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association v. State of Kerala [2005 (4) KLT 497]. The petitioner therefore seeks the following reliefs:

(2.) NONE of the respondents have chosen to file any counter affidavit.

(3.) THE complainant in Ext.P1 complaint is the Kerala State Education Society. That complainant may be a consumer association. But a consumer association cannot in the public interest file a complaint before the Forum unless the same is on behalf of a member of such association. Ext.P1 is not drafted as a complaint on behalf of a member of the 2nd respondent Consumer Association. That being so, prima -facie Ext.P1 complaint is not maintainable.