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In a significant order, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has held that, for determining the pecuniary jurisdiction of consumer fora, the value of the goods/services “paid” as consideration alone has to be taken, and not the value of the goods/services “purchased”.

In M/S Pyaridevi Chabiraj Steels Pvt Ltd v National Insurance Company Ltd & Ors, the order was passed by a bench of Justice R K Agrawal (president) and S M Kantikar (member) while hearing a consumer complaint filed on behalf of a Kolkata-based factory against its insurer, National Insurance Company.

The claim of the complainant was that the insurance company had wrongly repudiated its insurance claim worth ?280 million (US$3.8 million), which was purchased by paying a premium of ?443,562. The NCDRC held that the value of the consideration paid in the case was “less” than ?100 million (the pecuniary jurisdiction of NCDRC as per section 58(1)(a)(i) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019) and the complaint shall not be maintainable before the commission.