Author Name:   prateekhanda

This Article deals with the meaning of Branch Office as given in Section 11 and Section 17 of the Consumer Protection Act...

This Article deals with the meaning of Branch Office as given in Section 11 and Section 17 of the Consumer Protection Act.

Section 11 of the Consumer Protection Act states:
"(2) A complaint shall be instituted in a District Forum within the local limits of whose jurisdiction,—"

(a) the opposite party or each of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at the time of the institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides or 2[carries on business or has a branch office or] personally works for gain, or

(b) any of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at the time of the institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides, or 3[carries on business or has a branch office], or personally works for gain, provided that in such case either the permission of the District Forum is given, or the opposite parties who do not reside, or 4[carry on business or have a branch office], or personally work for gain, as the case may be, acquiesce in such institution; or

(c) the cause of action, wholly or in part, arises.

Section 17:
A complaint shall be instituted in a State Commission within the limits of whose jurisdiction,—"
(a) the opposite party or each of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at the time of the institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides or carries on business or has a branch office or personally works for gain; or

(b) any of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at the time of the institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides, or carries on business or has a branch office or personally works for gain, provided that in such case either the permission of the State Commission is given or the opposite parties who do not reside or carry on business or have a branch office or personally works for gain, as the case may be, acquiesce in such institution; or

(c) the cause of action, wholly or in part, arises.]

Branch Office has been defined in Section2(aa) as under :

“branch office” means—
(i) any establishment described as a branch by the opposite party; or
(ii) any establishment carrying on either the same or substantially the same activity as that carried on by the head office of the establishment

When a definition of the word begins with “means”, it is indicative of the fact that the meaning of the word is restricted, that is to say, it would not mean anything else, but what has been indicated in the definition itself i.e. the definition in the Act provides a statutory dictionary which we are under the bounden duty to apply in construing the provisions of the Act .

Branch office has been defined in section 2(aa) and has been used in Section 11 and Section 17 only of the Consumer Protection Act. In case any other meaning is assigned to Branch Office, Section 2(aa) will become devoid of any meaning and application.

It is equally well settled that in interpreting a statute, effort should be made to give effect to each and every word used by the Legislature. We always presume that the Legislature inserted every part thereof for a purpose and the legislative intention is that every part of the statute should have effect. A construction which attributes redundancy to the legislature will not be accepted except for compelling reasons such as obvious drafting errors.

An enactment being the will of the Legislature, the paramount rule of interpretation which overrides all others is that a statute is to be expounded "according to the intent of them that made it". "The will of the Legislature is the supreme law of the land and demands perfect obedience".

If the Legislature wilfully omits to incorporate something of an analogous law in a subsequent statute, or even if there is a casus omissus in a statute, the language of which is otherwise plain and unambiguous we are not competent to supply the omission by engrafting on it or introducing in it, under the guise of interpretation by analogy or implication, something what it thinks to be a general principle of justice and equity. To do so "would be entrenching upon the preserves of Legislature"

The  author can be reached at: prateekhanda@legalserviceindia.com

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