Why December 24 is celebrated as National Consumer Day? Has the Consumer Protection Act succeeded in protecting consumers? Do Consumer Courts offer speedy and simple redressal of consumer complaints? How can long delays in Consumer Courts be avoided? – Kalpita Ranade, Pune
December 24 is celebrated as National Consumer Day as, on this day in 1986, the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) came into effect. The Act was the first of its kind which recognised six Consumer Rights: Right to safety; Right to information; Right to choice; Right to redressal of consumer grievances; Right to be heard and Right to consumer education. For promoting and protecting these consumer rights the CPA provided for the establishment of Consumer Protection Conferences at district, state and national levels. On the other hand, the CPA also provided for the establishment of a three-tier consumer dispute redressal mechanism at district, state and national levels, which is commonly referred to as consumer courts or consumer commissions. They are expected to redress consumer disputes within three to five months.
The proceedings are expected to be based on the principles of natural justice. Technical laws such as the Civil Procedure Code, the Indian Evidence Act do not apply to the proceedings before these courts. The Consumer Commissions are not Courts although they have the powers and trappings of the court. Unfortunately, despite such laudable provisions, rarely one will find dispute resolution within three to five months. Complaints at the district level take two to five years. If the matter is challenged in appeal, then there is a further delay of another few years. And if it is further dragged by way of a revision petition, one has to wait for another five to even 10 years.
The reasons include the government’s apathy and failure to provide adequate staff and infrastructure. Vacancies of residents and members of these commissions are not filled in time despite high court directions. However, the procedure adopted by the commissions is largely responsible for long delays. These commissions are often seen acting like civil courts and get lost in unnecessary technical and procedural wrangles. However, this does not mean that the CPA has failed.
The CPA has empowered the consumer and equipped him with rights. The CPA has given the consumer his identity. Most importantly, the CPA has made business, trade, industry, advertisers, and service providers accountable to consumers. Today, a consumer on his own can challenge mighty business empires or powerful service providers or government undertakings, insurance companies or banks. Professionals like doctors are made accountable to patients for negligence causing loss of lives or grave injury.
Supreme Court has ruled in its landmark judgment in “Lucknow Development Authority v/s M K Gupta” that if government undertakings such as railways, telephone companies, housing development board, electricity board, and insurance companies are made to pay compensation to consumers for any losses suffered by them, the same should be paid to consumers immediately but recovered from the salaries of the officers/employees. This judgement has forced the public sector undertakings to improve their attitude towards consumers. To protect consumers from online shopping frauds, deceptions by ecommerce platforms, dand igital payment frauds, the CPA, 1986 has now been replaced by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. It has laid down e-commerce Rules to protect consumers.
The CPA, 2019 has also provided for dispute resolution through mediation which may provide speedy settlement of consumer disputes. The CPA, 2019 has also created an enforcing agency in the form of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), which is empowered to prevent the violation of the rights of consumers as a class. The government has now facilitated the online filing of complaints through edakhil coupled with online hearings.
(Advocate Shirish V Deshpande is chairman, Mumbai Grahak Panchayat. Queries can be sent to him on email: [email protected])
