HC asks state to give infrastructure, staff to consumer fora

The Bombay High Court today directed Maharashtra government to provide, by September 12, adequate infrastructure and staff to the district consumer forums across the state.
The order was passed by a division bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka on a Public Interest Litigation filed by Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, a leading consumer rights NGO.
Petitioner's counsel Uday Warunjikar argued that until recently the non-official members of State Consumer Protection Council were not experts in the field and were appointed only because of political connections.
However, the government said it had issued a Government Resolution on October 19, 2013 on new regulations to appoint non-official members but some of the existing members were appointed prior to that.

The court directed the government to cancel the appointments made before the GR came into effect, and make fresh appointments of non-official members by September 30, in keeping with the new regulations.
In January, the HC had asked the government to increase the honorarium paid to the members and the Presidents of Consumer Forums.
The PIL has raised issues such as lack of infrastructure, vacant posts and insufficient salaries. Of the forty consumer forums in the state, 19 were dysfunctional as members' posts are yet to be filled up, it said.
The government had subsequently told the court that ten posts of presidents and 34 posts of members were vacant and the appointment process was in the final stage.