Consumer fora hope new bill will give them an edge

HYDERABAD:  With the Cabinet on Wednesday clearing the tabling of the Consumer Protection Bill, 2017, in the Parliament, the consumer forums in the city are now somewhat relived.They are hopeful that the new Bill which would replace the archaic Consumer Protection Act, 1986, would  not only look into the lack of infrastructure at the District Consumer Forum but also deal with the limited executive powers the forums get to exercise.

A visit to any of the three consumer forums clearly reflects the lack of staff and infrastructure therein. Sample this: the posts of members to preside, along with the judge and several posts of stenos and junior assistants are still vacant at the District Consumer Forum.“There needs to be a computer system in the courtroom to have a record but we are still using books for the same,” said Nimma Narayana, president, Hyderabad District Consumer Forum - III. According to him, a consumer petition needs to be heard within five months but it takes more than that time.  

While answering a question on why letters are not sent to those who file petitions, Narayana said that the forum does not have that kind of infrastructure to ‘write’ to all the petitioners.  Interestingly, even after pronouncing orders in favour of the consumers, the goods or service providers reportedly don’t
follow the court directions on several instances. It may be noted that in majority of the orders pronounced, a compliance period of 30 days is given for the Opposite party (against whom a consumer petition is raised) to solve the issue and meet costs.

“From the police to the postman, everyone in the line of communication is bribed and that fails the entire purpose of pronouncing orders,” Narayana told Express on the sidelines of the National Consumer Day organised in Hyderabad on Sunday.

The way forward is the Consumer Protection Bill which would be integral for speedy disposal of cases. “The Bill should answer the need for a forum to have more powers and punishment to be awarded to those who take the orders for granted,” Narayana lamented.

The Consumer Rights Protection Council (CRPC) that met on Sunday to observe the National Consumer day deliberated that due to the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), consumers are being wrongly charged.  “As the GST ruling underpins, there are multiple tax slabs for multiple products. Taking an advantage, many are being charged multiple times,” said D Chakrapani, president, CRPC.