Hyderabad: Spurt in consumer cases due to awareness of rights

HYDERABAD: Consumers’ increasing awareness of their legal rights has led to an unprecedented surge in the number of cases filed with the district consumer forums which deal with disputes of value up to `20 lakh. Between 2010 and 2017 the number of cases disposed of by the district consumer forums in the country doubled. While the number was 56,808 in 2010, it was 1,02,738 in 2017.

Yet, the case pendency and disposal ratio of 3:1 at the district consumer forums in the country haunts the purpose of establishing the forums. The three forums functioning in Hyderabad disposed of 272 cases in 2017 and a majority of them were those pending since 2015 and 2016. Only six cases filed in that year were disposed of in the same year.

This delay was in clear violation of the 90-day time limit within which a case should be heard. About half of the cases, 132 to be precise, settled in 2017 pertained to deficiency of service in housing, banking, finance and insurance sectors, and the other complaints related to health, transport and tourism sectors. The tardy disposal of cases can be addressed if Parliament passes the Consumer Protection Bill, 2018 which has been tabled.

Justice Noushad Ali, president of AP State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, said the bill sought to increase forums’ powers for speedy disposal of cases. “Power of review is an important inclusion in the bill which was not there in Consumer Protection Act, 1986. It would aid judges to recall cases on any lapses in terms of the complainants, opposite parties or even us, in certain cases.”