Long pending cases: Govt to rank consumer courts on disposal speed

NEW DELHI: To reduce the pendency of consumer cases, the Centre has decided to rank the performance of consumer courts in terms of the speed at which they will dispose of cases filed before 2000 in a span of five months till November, a senior Consumer Affairs Ministry official said on Friday.

The performance of state and district commissions, also called consumer courts, will be rated during July-November this year and the result will be published on the occasion of the National Consumer Day commemorated on December 24, the official said.

At present, there are 629 district commissions and 35 state commissions with the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) at the apex.

"The age of pending consumer cases is extremely high. There are 4,029 pending cases filed before the year 2000. A campaign has been launched to reduce the huge pendency of very old cases," the senior official told PTI.

At the end of the campaign in November, the performance of commissions as well as states will be ranked and for which the process of weightage of marks will be shared soon, the official said.

Pendency of very old cases remains high in states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, the official added.

The performance ranking of commissions in Union territories (barring Delhi) and northeastern states will be made separately, as the number of consumer cases filed in these states is low when compared to other parts of the country.

The plan is to rate in three categories -- aspiring, performer and achiever.

The Consumer Protection Act provides for the disposal of cases within 3-5 months.

Currently, there is about 5.50 lakh pending consumer cases in the country, which includes 4,029 pending cased filed before the year 2000, the official said.