The proliferation of e-commerce platforms in India has engendered a complex landscape of consumer disputes that existing legal frameworks have been slow to address. This paper adopts a doctrinal methodology to examine the statutory, regulatory, and judicial architecture governing grievance redressal in online commerce, with particular attention to the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, and the Information Technology Act, 2000. Through an analysis of legislative text, subordinate legislation, judicial pronouncements, and policy documents, the paper critically evaluates whether the current legal framework adequately ensures efficacious and accessible dispute resolution for consumers transacting on digital platforms. The paper further examines the structural deficiencies in platform-level grievance mechanisms and proposes doctrinal refinements drawing upon comparative jurisprudence from the European Union and the United Kingdom. It concludes that while India has made significant legislative strides, institutional lacunae, enforcement gaps, and the absence of mandatory online dispute resolution (ODR) infrastructure continue to undermine the promise of digital consumer justice.
Dubey et al. (Fri,) studied this question.