The world’s largest online retailer Amazon filed a lawsuit in Delhi High Court on Tuesday to challenge a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) judgement that fined the company Rs 1 lakh for selling inferior household pressure cookers. The case was put before a Justice Yashwant Varma bench, and it will be heard again on September 19 in order to give the consumer watchdog’s attorney time to get legal advice.
Amazon was represented by Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar, who maintained that the decision had been issued without proper authority and that the platform was just acting as a mediator in the Shreya Singhal case. According to Nayar, it is impossible for it to comply with the CCPA decision calling for the recall of more than 2,200 pressure cookers. He continued by saying that Amazon is similar to a mall owner and that the owner of the mall cannot be hauled off for selling fake apples just because some shop is selling them. “We are providing a stage. We removed them (the company selling pressure cookers) from our market as soon as the CCPA brought it up, according to Nayar.
On August 4, the CCPA issued a ruling against Amazon for violating consumer rights by allowing the sale of household pressure cookers on its online marketplace in defiance of the authority’s strict requirements. The CCPA had taken action on its own behalf against e-commerce sites for selling residential pressure cookers in contravention of the law. Major e-commerce sites including Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, Shopclues, and Snapdeal received notification, along with the sellers who had accounts on those sites.
It was discovered that a total of 2,265 pressure cookers were sold on Amazon, and the company received a total of Rs 6,14,825.41 in fees from the sale of these pressure cookers on its platform. It was noted by the CCPA that when Amazon earns commercially from each sale of the product listed on its e-commerce platform, it can not disassociate itself in case of issues arising from the sale of products through its platform, according to a statement from the Consumer Affairs Ministry. “Amazon admitted that it earned sales commission’ fee for the pressure cookers sold on its platform,” the statement read.
The CCPA ordered Amazon to inform all customers about the 2,265 pressure cookers it sold on its site, recall the cookers, provide them with a refund for their purchase price, and submit a compliance report regarding the same within 45 days.
