LAWS(NCD)-2011-3-32

SANTI DENRE Vs. SUNIL CHAKRABORTY & ANR

Decided On March 07, 2011
Santi Denre Appellant
V/S
Sunil Chakraborty And Anr Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CHALLENGE in this petition is to the order dated 10.5.2010 passed by the West Bengal State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Kolkata in Revision Petition, S.C. Case No. RC/27/2010 filed by the respondent herein against the order dated 14.1.2010 passed by District Consumer Forum, Howrah in Complaint Case No. 6 of 2009. The State Commission has set aside the said order based on its own interpretation of the decision in the case of Martin F. D Souza v. Mohd. Ishfaq, 2009 3 SCC 1. We have heard the counsel for the parties. Mr. S.K. Ghosh, learned Counsel for the petitioner seeks to assail the impugned order passed by the State Commission primarily on the ground that the view taken by the Supreme Court in the case of Martin F. D'Souza has been fully clarified and distinguished in the case of V. Kishan Rao v. Nikhil Super Speciality Hospital and Another, 2010 5 SCC 513 and, therefore, the order passed by the State Commission is not in consonance with the legal position as it stands today and is legally unsustainable. We find force in this contention because the District Forum did well in taking cognizance of the complaint and decided to answer the complaint on merits despite it having received the report of the Chief Medical Officer, Howrah in the matter. The complainant could substantiate his allegations of medical negligence etc. by producing his own evidence contra to the report of the Chief Medical Officer. In our view, the impugned order is legally unsustainable and needs to be set aside.

(2.) IN the result, the revision petition is allowed. The complaint is remanded back to the District Forum for deciding the same in accordance with the law. Parties are directed to appear before the State Commission on 06.04.2011.