Plea in SC seeks 'right to know' on product quality, seller details

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking to declare that consumers have a "right to know" about the quality, purity and certification of products, besides details of distributors and sellers for redressal against unfair restrictive trade practices.

It has also sought directions to the Centre and the states to ensure that every distributor, trader and shop owner displays details of registration, including name, address, phone number and number of employees at the entry gate in bold letters on a display board visible to people.

The plea is slated to come up for hearing on July 21 before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.

The petition filed by petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay said "right to know" was crucial for consumers to make informed choices and to protect themselves from unfair or restrictive trade practices and unscrupulous exploitation.

"Right to know helps consumers avoid falling prey to a fraudulent or deceptive distributor, dealer, trader, seller and shop owner, who might misrepresent a product/service or disappear after sale, purchase and money transaction," said the plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey.

It said that if a consumer has an issue with a product or service, knowing details about the distributor, dealer, and seller is essential for filing a complaint and seeking redressal through consumer redressal forums.

"When a distributor, dealer, trader, seller and shop owner are transparent about their details, it fosters a fair and competitive market where consumers can make informed choices," the plea said.

It said in essence, the right to know empowers consumers to be informed or protected and to make choices when engaging in sales, purchases and money transactions.

The plea has sought to direct and declare that "every consumer has 'right to know' not only about quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard, manufacturing date, expiry date and BIS/FSSAI certification of good/products, but also about the details of the distributor/dealer/ trader/seller and shop owner, so as to seek redressal against unfair restrictive trade practices and unscrupulous exploitation in spirit of sections 2(6), 2(9), 2(10) and 2(11) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019".