Centre plans amendment to Consumer Protection Act

Authority, through the amendment to Consumer Protection Act, 1986, can impose penalty, conduct probe into violation of consumer rights

The Union ministry of consumer affairs, in a bid to quickly dispose off cases and thereby give much-needed relief to consumers, has proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

The ministry proposes to replace the present Central Consumer Protection Council by the Central Consumer Protection Authority by delegating it with punitive powers, Food & Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told Business Standard on the sidelines of a retail and FMCG conference.

This Act might be called the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 2014. The authority can act against those traders who are violating consumer rights and can impose administrative penalty.

Besides, the authority can conduct investigations, either suo-motu or on a complaint, into violations of consumer rights and conduct search and seizure of documents/records/articles and other forms of evidence, summon delinquent manufacturers, advertisers and service providers to record oral evidence and direct production of documents and records. This apart, the authority can order recall of goods or withdrawal of services found to be unsafe or hazardous and order reimbursement of the price of the goods (or services) so recalled, to purchasers of such goods or services.

“In the present set-up, there are district fora, state commissions and the National Disputes Redressal Commission which compensate consumers for losses due to unfair trade practices or negligence. The experience is that a case which would have been resolved in no time, keeps on lingering due to adjournments and paperwork. Therefore, the ministry is mulling to set up the Central Consumer Protection Authority. The objective of the Central Authority will be to prevent the exploitation of consumers and violation of their rights and to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers. Cases can be resolved through mediation and conciliation,” Paswan said.

Paswan said that currently, retired judges were appointed on the consumer fora, state commissions and National Disputes Redressal Commission. However, the ministry was considering appointing members through the state public service commission at the state level and through the Union Public Service Commission at the national level. Currently, 621 district consumer fora, 35 state consumer commissions and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions at the apex level are functioning. “Till July 23, 2014, a total of 41,69,564 cases have been filed and 38,01,037 cases have been disposed in all these consumer fora, thereby achieving a disposal rate of over 91 per cent,” he informed.

M S Kamath, secretary, Consumer Guidance Society of India said, “It is not the law which has failed but the people who are running the system have failed it miserably. According to the regulation, the district forum is supposed to get rid of a minimum 75 cases a month. However, the output is 30 to 35 cases in most district fora which include cases which are dismissed by default or decided ex parte.” On the minister's proposal to revamp the present structure, Kamath, who has been fighting cases since 1989 onwards, opined that the government would be only replacing one set of incompetent people with another, whose competence was not known or established.

Shirish Deshpande, chairman, Mumbai Grahak Panchayat suggested that the minister and ministry needed to sit down with various consumer organisations before finalising the amendments.