A Press Release by the Ministry
of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution on 4th January
2012 elucidates the Amendments that are proposed to be made in the Consumer
Protection Act, 1986.
The Consumer Protection Act,
1986, paved way for consumer disputes redressal agencies in 629 District, 35
State and National levels to render simple, inexpensive and speedy justice to
consumers in respect of complaints against defective goods, deficient services
and unfair or restrictive trade practices.
The Amendments proposed includes:
- On line filing of consumer complaints
Making provision for registering
complaint by electronic form (on line filing complaint)- Since the Consumer
Forums are being computerized it is proposed to make provision in the law to
permit consumers to file complaints as well as pay fee online, which would make
the consumer for a move towards e-governance/ time bound redressal.
- Enforcement of orders as a Decree of Civil Court
Making provision that an order of
the District Forum / State Commission/ National Commission will be enforced as
a Decree of a Civil Court- This modification is considered essential in view of
the experiences gained during implementation of the amended Act and is intended
to deter willful offenders and also to ensure speedy and proper execution of
the order of the consumer forums, so that justice to the aggrieved consumers is
not frustrated.
- Payment to be made for non-compliance of the order
Making provision for payment by
every person for not complying of the order of District Forum / State
Commission / National Commission of an amount of not less than Rs.500 or 1½ per
cent of the value of the amount awarded- whichever is higher, for each day of
delay of such non-compliance of the order. This modification is considered
essential in view of the experiences gained during implementation of the
amended Act and is intended to deter willful offenders and also to ensure
speedy and proper execution of the orders of the consumer forums, so that
justice to the aggrieved consumers is not frustrated.
- Powers to District Forum
Empowering District Forum to
function in any other place apart from District HQrs, in consultation with
State Government / State Commission - This provision is considered necessary to
allow State Governments the flexibility to club neighboring Districts Forum as
also give additional charge to President/Members to hear cases in more than one
District Forum so as to effectively deal with the non-functionality of
Districts Forum caused due to vacancy of President/Member.
Conferring powers to District
Forum to issue order to the opposite party to pay reasonable rate of interest
on such price or charges as may be decided by the District Forum- This
provision is considered necessary to empower the consumer forum to award interest
where the consumer has suffered due to protracted litigation.
- Powers to State Government in selection process
Empowering State Government to
refer back the recommendation of the Selection Committee for making fresh
recommendation in order to avoid any delay in the Selection process- This is
felt necessary to facilitate quicker filling up of the posts in the Consumer
Forums and to avoid the consumer Forum remaining non-functional for long due to
such vacancy thereby adversely affecting consumers’ interest.
- Increase of age in the appointment
Increasing the minimum age for
appointment as Member in the case of State Commissions from 35 to 45 years, and
in case of National Commission from 35 to 55 years- This is proposed to improve
the quality of persons applying for these posts.
- Experience for members
Increasing the period of
experience for appointment as Member in the case of State Commission from 10
years to 20 years and in the case of National Commission from 10 years to 30
years-This is proposed in order to improve the quality of persons applying for
these posts.
- Powers to National Commission / State Commission to direct any one to assist the case
Conferring powers to National
Commission / State Commission to direct any individual or organization or
expert to assist National Commission / State Commission in the cases of large
interest of the consumers- This provision would enable the National Commission
or the State Commission, in cases involving the larger interests of the
consumers, an opportunity to suo moto enlist the services of an expert or an
outside party, in an ongoing case, in the interest of justice.
- Monitoring system of pending cases
Conferring powers to Central
Government to call upon periodical reports of pending cases from National
Commission and to State Government from State Commission or any District Forum-
The provision is considered necessary to enable easy availability of data
regarding filing and disposal of consumer complaints, which would help in
monitoring the functioning of the consumer for a and effectiveness of the law.
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