NEW DELHI: The delay by government in announcing the selection of members in the country’s apex
consumer body,
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (
NCDRC), has raised questions whether only former bureaucrats will be appointed as non-judicial members.
Sources said the norms for short-listing the applicants have been changed to consider only former government officials after receiving applications from a wider range of experts from different fields.
Sources said the search-cum-selection committee (SCSC) first narrowed down the criteria of short-listing applicants only to eligible retired government officials and later it was further tweaked to drop the seniority criterion.
Consumer affairs secretary A K Srivastava did not respond to TOI’s repeated SMSes, WhatsApp message and emails. He did not even answer whether the norms have been changed and the reasons behind this move at an event held last week to list out the achievement of the ministry. TOI has learnt that the ministry has decided not to say anything on this until the appointments are approved by the government.
NCDRC has 11 members and a president. The government had advertised vacancy of the president and seven members out of which three are non-judicial members. According to the notification issued last year, applicants for non-judicial members must have 20 years’ experience in economics, business, commerce, law, finance, public administration and management.
The
Supreme Court extended the tenure of President and other members of NCDRC twice in the past six months due to delay in completion of the selection process and to ensure that there is smooth functioning of the body. Recently Justice R K Agrawal was appointed as the new president, but he is still to take over.