Telangana slowest in disposing consumer cases

HYDERABAD:  The rate of disposal of cases at the Telangana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (TSCDRC) is a meagre 38.75 per cent, which makes it the worst among the 29 states and seven Union Territories. In comparison, Andhra Pradesh fared much better with 97.25 per cent rate of disposal of cases. While Tripura (98.55 pc) leads the pack, all other states and UTs have a disposal rate not less than 80 per cent and some even above 90 per cent. What more! The second worst performer in the country is Uttar Pradesh (69.21 pc) and the third from the bottom of the list is Odisha (73.23 pc), which gives an idea of how abysmal the situation in Telangana is. 

This is as per the data produced in the Lok Sabha a few days ago (Tuesday) by minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution CR Chaudhary on the number of consumer cases filed, disposed of and pending with state-level consumer disputes redressal commissions in the country. As per the data, 3,125 cases have been filed with TSCDRC since its inception in October 2014. Till January 31, 2018 only 1,211 cases have been disposed of and 1,914 cases are pending.

That pegs the case disposal rate at 38.75 pc. When Express spoke with officials and staff of TSCDRC, several reasons were cited for the poor show: no appointment of president to TSCRDC for one year after its formation which delayed hearing of cases, TSCDRC had about 1,000 cases at the time of its establishment as those were transferred to it after bifurcation of united AP, new cases kept piling up till the appointment of the president and the woman member’s position continuing to remain vacant. 

One official said that it is because of these reasons that the disposal rate at the state level remained so low unlike in the case of district-level consumer disputes redressal commissions where the disposal rate is as high as 95 per cent as per the data presented in the Lok Sabha. However, the positions of nearly 20 members are vacant in the district commissions as well. As of now, TSCDRC is headed by justice BN Rao Nalla as president and has one member (judicial) in Pathil Vithal Rao. Both are set to retire in June this year. The state government has not yet taken any initiative to make new appointments even though Consumer Protection Rules, 1987 stipulate that “the process of appointment of a Member shall be initiated at least three months before the vacancy arises”.