A court in session: the faceless consumer finds a voiceThe judges don't wear any robes, the complainant need not hire a lawyer, there are no court fees, and the witness box collects dust in a corner. In consumer courts throughout the country, a new quasi-judicial tradition is being created as ordinary people seek quick justice against a variety of offenders - crooked builders, tardy insurance companies, manufacturers of defective goods, or inefficient public utility companies.Major road-blocks do remain, raising questions about the effectiveness of the Consumer Protection Act (copra), enacted in 1986 to provide speedy redressal to consumers. Yet, as H.D. Shourie, well-known' consumer rights activist and founder of Common Cause, observes: "Nothing now is beyond the reach of the consumers, and they are realising it."The statistics are impressive: till December 1991, one lakh cases were heard at the district level, 5,000 at the state level, and 300 at the national level. An estimated 50 per cent of these cases have already been disposed of. Andhra Pradesh, which has almost 200 of the country's 500 consumer rights organisations, topped the list with approximately 22,000 cases. Maharashtra followed with 10,000 cases.Most of the consumers were delighted by the speedy disposal of cases. In Kerala, a car owner sued Maruti Udyog Limited for supplying a defective car under the NRI scheme, and the company was ordered to replace it. In September, the state's consumer commission created another stir by asking an advocate to pay Rs 51,500 as compensation to his client for providing inadequate professional service.In Bhopal, a retired engineer, Suresh Chandra Rastogi, got back his Rs 10,000 deposit with interest from Sipani Automobiles after several letters failed to evoke a response from the Bangalore car manufacturer. Says a beaming Rastogi: "I hardly spent any money on the case, and got my deposit back just six months after I complained to the district forum.And to think that lawyers were demanding 10 per cent of the deposit as fees to fight what would have been a long-drawn civil suit." But the failure of state governments to adequately support the experiment endangers the effectiveness of the three-tier consumer grievances redressal system at the district, state and national levels.And the problems are exacerbated by the Centre's delay in implementing the recommendations of a high-powered working group which studied the implementation of the new consumer Act.Unless the Government acts fast, this novel, nationwide exercise may end up in an all-too-familiar quagmire. Says Jehangir Gai, secretary, Bombay Telephone Users' Association: "The backlog of cases is mounting as the state commissions and district forums can no longer give their decisions within the stipulated three months."Ironically, the pioneering pro-consumer legislation itself had become a victim of sloth and neglect until Shourie filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against non-implementation of the Act. In August last year, the court ordered state governments to set up consumer courts within two months. From barely 30 district forums before Shourie's petition, the number has now zoomed to 361, covering a major chunk of the country's 450 districts. "With the Act gaining credence, nothing is beyond the reach of the consumers now, and they are realising it."H.D. Shourie, consumer rights activistAmong all the decisions of the consumer courts, the ones which have evoked maximum controversy concern doctors and hospitals. Even though the national commission ruled earlier this year that the consumer courts can punish doctors, the Indian Medical Association is up in arms and has appealed to the Supreme Court against the decision. But consumer activists are adamant that doctors and hospitals must remain within the purview of the Act. Says Shourie: "In fact, we want an amendment so that free hospitals, which are not covered by the Act now, are also included."A review of the data collected from all the districts last December, showed that 80 per cent of the cases were settled in favour of the consumer. To counter criticism that the courts in district or state headquarters are elitist and urban-oriented, the Government is assisting NGOs to participate in workshops on consumer protection at six centres in the country. Training programmes have also been launched for state civil supply department officials and for the non-official members of district forums and state commissions. As Sathi Nair, joint secretary in the Food and Civil Supplies Department says: "The Government can only be a catalyst. The actual work of mobilising people is best done by voluntary organisations."But most state governments, regardless of the ruling party's ideology, appear none too keen on seeing the consumer courts function effectively. In CPI(M)-ruled West Bengal, the state commission is without a third member, so when the two existing members disagree, a case gets deadlocked. In Tamil Nadu, the state commission has just one stenographer who takes down up to 15 j udgements daily running into scores of pages.In Maharashtra, a Congress(I)-ruled state, the Bombay suburban district forum does not even have a stenographer the conscientious president, a retired judge, would write even detailed decisions in long-hand, until a complainant ran away with a lengthy order which went against him. And in BJP-controlled Madhya Pradesh, the state commission doesn't even have a full-time president.Maharashtra state commission President G.G.Loney points out that the three distinctive features of the pro-consumer legislation are: a simple procedure for deciding cases, no court fees and expeditious decisions. "But if the problems arising from inadequate facilities and lack of staff are not solved, the consumer bodies will also go the way of other courts," he observes.If the Indian economy is to modernise and standards are to improve, both the public and private sectors will have to become far more receptive to the rights of consumers. The consumer courts have proved to be the most effective instrument for protecting the country's vast, faceless army of consumers. If the Government now fails to give adequate backing to a pioneering piece of legislation, the engine of change will be derailed once again..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}Published By: AtMigration Published On: Dec 21, 2012--- ENDS ---
