No awareness: Poor turnout at consumer circuit bench

HYDERABAD: Consumers from the two Telugu states are, apparently, not too keen on turning their grievances into formal complaints. The 10-day circuit bench of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), set up in places away from the commission’s parent location, saw poor turnout as only 17 complaints were filed from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, most of them being from the latter state.

The primary motive of the circuit bench was to allow consumers and their counsels to file complaints from a particular city, in a bid to reduce travel costs to New Delhi, where the NCDRC is located, and give precedence to cases pertaining to that region.   

However, it is safe to say that the bench has not been utilised by the consumers to its full potential. There have been very few complaints with cash value of more than Rs 1 crore filed in the current circuit bench. According to NCDRC officials, this throws light on poor consumer awareness. In June 2018, when the circuit bench was held in Kolkata, around 55 complaints were filed from the same state.  “Kolkata has been at the forefront in giving a fillip to consumer awareness. The government has separated consumer affairs department from the food and supplies department with  a designated minister,” said an NCDRC official. Further, he added, “A lot of counsels of the consumers are not following the proper channel while filing appeals.”

Advocates opined that they had been refraining from filing new petitions in wait of the Consumer Protection Bill, 2018. “If the bill gets cleared in the Rajya Sabha, we can file complaints that amount upto Rs 10 crore,” said V Gouri Sankara Rao, president of CATCO.