Consumer Protection under Competition Law, 2002

"There is an old Soviet era joke about the party leader asking a peasant to give him the watermelon, which he is carrying under his arm. The peasant says ‘OK, choose’, to which the Communist leader replies ‘What to choose, it’s only one!’, and the peasant says ‘You are also the only candidate, but we still elect you!’ The time when people had no right of choice for their lives in politics is hopefully gone. But the ability to choose the best option among many is a fundamental right. It is the engine of the economy and of people’s welfare. Competition is crucial for the functioning and wealth of the markets ? both in terms of competition between companies and the right of choice for consumers. That is why competition and consumer protection are two sides of the same coin. In this paper, the author makes an attempt to explain how consumer protection is dealt with by the Competition Act, 2002 with reference to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. "