Can consumer law achieve its objectives?

The new consumer protection act which came into force in July last year has failed to achieve its objectives. It was expected that as soon as the law comes into force, consumer dispute resolution forums will also come into being at different levels to check adulterated and spurious goods. But it has remained a distant dream for consumers till date and now the question arises, can the consumer law achieve its objectives in the near future?

Hyderabad:The Consumer Protection Act enacted with the objective of protecting consumers' interests is failing in achieving its objectives of eradicating compromised quality of products, immoral business practices and misleading advertisements.

In place of the old law enacted in 1986, the new consumer protection act came into force in July last year.

It was expected that as soon as the law comes into force, consumer dispute resolution forums will come into being at different levels and adulterated and spurious goods will attract a penal fine of Rs 1 lakh, apart from imprisonment for up to 6 months.

A Public Interest Litigation filed in the apex court states that the ground realities of implementation are different from the pronounced objectives of the law.

It also states that numerous vacant positions have accumulated in the State and district consumer forums.

On his part, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon the States to immediately commence the process of recruitments at the consumer forums.

The previous consumer law had stipulated that consumer grievances should be settled within three months after they came to the forum’s notice.

In practice, it took two to three years to resolve the cases. In his PIL, the petitioner revealed all the details of vacancies in the district and State forums.

In Karnataka, consumer cases took up to seven years to solve disputes. According to the information compiled till November 2020, more than 21,000 cases remain unresolved at the National Consumer Forum alone.

As recruitments to vacant positions did not take place 1.25 lakh cases remained pending with the State level forums and three times of that numbers of cases are pending with district forums.

This clearly reveals how serious our governments are in resolving consumer disputes.

Awareness towards consumer rights developed in the industrialized countries over six to seven decades ago.

The UN had passed a special resolution in 1985, for the spread of consumer awareness across the globe.

By the next year, in 1986, the Consumer Protection Act came into being in India. However, the law failed in creating a system to monitor the implementation of consumer rights.

The new law enacted in 2019 calls for the creation of consumer protection authority. However, the law is being rendered ineffective by the vacant positions in the forums at different levels.

About four years ago, the apex court had strongly condemned the political appointments made to the district consumer forums in Uttar Pradesh.

The court also appointed Justice Pasayat Committee to ascertain the prevailing situation across the country.

Supreme Court took strong exception to the political appointments to the forums. It also pointed out the prevalence of groups at forums in states like Haryana.

The court lamented lack of facilities in all States. At many places, files related to consumer grievances are becoming food to termites. This clearly demonstrates how deviant the consumer protection movement has become in India.

The latest consumer protection act also calls for the commencement of the recruitment process at least six months before a vacant position arises.

It has stipulated the procedure for appointing the selection panel.

The High Courts of Telangana, Odisha and Dilli have issued notices to respective State governments on the need to complete the recruitments to district consumer forums.

But there was no response from the governments concerned. Across the globe, several countries are eager to usher in reforms that protect consumer rights.

Astonishingly, in India, recruitments to the consumer forums are not taking place even after court intervention.