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LIKE the previous years, this year too, during Diwali a number of ‘lucky draws’ are being offered at retail outlets, shopping malls and even at Diwali melas. A participant is required to write down his address and telephone number on a gift voucher and drop it in a box kept for the purpose. In most of the cases, one never gets to know the identity of the lucky winner. So long as you don’t get a call, you assume that you are not the lucky one and forget about the whole episode. The definition of unfair trade practices under the Consumer Protection Act clearly states that withholding information about the final results of any scheme offering gifts, prizes or other items constitutes an unfair trade practice. Not giving the promised gift is also an unfair trade practice. The law also makes it clear that if such a scheme, offering prizes or gifts, is announced in a newspaper then the results should also be announced in a similar way and within a reasonable period of time. This ensures certain transparency. Where such announcements have not been made in any newspaper, the retailers should at least put up a board at the retail outlet announcing the prize and it should be displayed for at least a week. They should also announce it on their website. This way other participants can get information about the lucky winner. There is another side to the story too. Sometimes you may win the bumper prize, yet not get what is due to you. Or you may have lost the receipt and on that ground, the organisers of the draw may deny you the prize. Let me briefly relate three such cases where the consumer had to file a case in the consumer court to get the prize. In the case of United Finance Company vs M.S. Subramanian (RP no 4023 of 2006), the company had announced a lucky draw for all those who invested in it. Subramanian deposited Rs 1,000 and was thrilled when he was informed that he had won the bumper prize of Rs 1 lakh. But he realised that he had lost his deposit certificate. He was later denied the prize on the ground that he had failed to produce the certificate. His contention before the consumer court was that he had made an announcement in the newspaper about the loss of the certificate, in order to prevent its misuse. He was also willing to give the necessary indemnity bond. Yet, the company was not giving him the prize. The apex consumer court directed the company to pay. Another interesting case is that of P. Raman, who won a Maruti Omni as a bumper prize, but was not given the promised prize. The Tamil Nadu Government had announced a district-level "gift-linked savings mobilisation scheme". All those who invested over Rs 500 were eligible for the draw of lots and were given gift coupons. Raman, who had invested Rs 5,000 in a time deposit scheme, won the bumper prize. But he never got the prize and when he made enquiries, he was told that the prize was won by another Raman in the same village, who had also invested Rs 5000. The consumer court, before which he filed a complaint, concluded that the complainant was indeed the winner and had been wrongly denied the bumper prize. The Directorate of Small Savings was therefore directed to hand over the keys of the car to Raman. (The Directorate of Small Savings vs P. Raman, RP NO 1157 of 2002) In the case of Parmanand Prasad, though he had won Rs 2 lakh on a lottery ticket that he had bought, he was denied the prize money. This was on the ground that the bank to which he had given the winning ticket to be handed over to the lottery authorities had lost it. In this case, the National Commission directed the state lottery to pay Rs 2 lakh to the bank, after obtaining an indemnity bond. "The money, in turn, should be credited to the account of Prasad, along with 6 per cent interest calculated from October 29, 1998, till the payment to his account", the commission said. (Union Bank of India vs Prmanand Prasad, RP No2865 of 2003). So, if you have a problem getting the promised prize or gift, remember, the consumer courts are there for you. However, remember to keep the cash receipt and the gift coupon, safe. It’s best to hand over the coupon only at the time of collecting the prize. In case you need to give it in early, keep a photocopy and get the person, who collects the original to give you a receipt for it.
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