Flipkart fined for selling poor quality pressure cookers, why CCPA held the e-tailer liable

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) passed an order on violation of consumer rights by e-commerce platform ‘Flipkart’ for allowing sale of domestic pressure cookers in violation to mandatory standards. The CCPA has directed Flipkart to notify consumers of all 598 pressure cookers sold on its platform, recall the pressure cookers and reimburse their prices to the consumers and submit a compliance report of the same within 45 days. The company has also been directed to pay a penalty of Rs 1,00,000 for allowing sale of such pressure cookers on its e-commerce platform and violating rights of consumers.
The Central Government, from time to time, notifies the Quality Control Orders (QCOs) specifying compulsory conformity to a standard and use of standard mark for a product to protect consumers from risk of suffering injury and harm and in the interest of the public at large. The Domestic Pressure Cooker (Quality Control) Order, which came into force in February 2021 mandates conformity to IS 2347:2017 for all domestic pressure cookers. Therefore, now all pressure cookers are required to conform to IS 2347:2017 and due diligence is required to be done whether the pressure cookers are offered for sale online or offline.