Government reviews consumer redressal mechanism with industry

The government on Tuesday sought active cooperation of corporate houses and business chambers to strengthen consumer redressal mechanism and said that in order to ensure transparency, companies should name the nodal officers handling grievances.

"There is a genuine need to pay immediate attention to strengthen redressal mechanism so that grievances are redressed within a given time frame. The need for transparency in this regard is of prime importance. Each company should bring out names of the nodal officers for handling grievances," Secretary Consumer Affairs Hem Pande said at a conference on government-industry partnership for redressal of consumer grievances here.

The companies have also been asked to refrain from giving misleading image of the products and services, official sources said.

The conference presided over by Pande was attended by all the leading Chambers of Commerce and Industry -- Assocham, Ficci, CII, PHD, DICCI and 130 companies cutting across different sectors such as consumer products, e-Commerce, banking, insurance and travel.

Pande said that in view of the increasing number of consumer grievances pertaining to different sectors of industry, there is a genuine need to pay immediate attention.

He also maintained that grievances if not redressed can be taken up with the next higher level, and names and contact details of alternate nodal officers should also be given, while the policy for replacement and refund should be placed on the website of the companies.

While the companies should acknowledge time frame by which the grievances are addressed by giving a unique registration number, they should also have regular interaction with the consumers, he urged.

An official spokesman also said the industries were asked to constantly share their ideas with the Department of Consumer Affairs so as to make the consumer redressal mechanism robust.

The chambers of commerce and industry as well as companies representing sectors like manufacturing, services, banks, insurance, real estate expressed their solidarity with the cause taken up by Department of Consumer Affairs and endorsed their commitment towards redressal of grievances of their consumers which help them grow in their business, officials said.

--IANS

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