The increasing number of cases filed, in the Consumer Fora, lack of infrastructural facilities etc are some of the factors for the delay in disposal of cases by the Consumer Fora. To expedite disposal of cases in the consumer fora, the National Commission holds Circuit Benches sittings in different States, conducts sittings in summer vacation and has also constituted Single Member Bench (es) for speedy disposal of cases.

Consumers in the country are aware of their rights, which is evident from the fact of growing number of consumer complaints being registered in the Consumer Fora and National Consumer Helpline every year.

The Government carries out a multi-media campaign “Jago Grahak Jago” on pan-India basis covering both rural and urban areas through print, electronic and outdoor media. Grants-in-aid are also released to States/UTs for creating consumer awareness in the respective States/UTs in their regional languages so as to further ensure that the campaign reaches the rural and backward areas of the country by way of focusing on hoardings, village mandis, agricultural regulated markets/vegetables markets at prominent places in rural areas. Rupees fifty lakh was released to Government of Maharastra in 2014-15 for creating consumer awareness in the state .

The Central Government has been providing financial assistance to the states for strengthening infrastructure of the Consumer Fora. Computer hardware/software and technical manpower are provided to the Consumer Fora for computerization of their functioning. There is no provision for online registration of complaints in the existing Consumer Protection Act.

To make the consumer protection legislation more effective and to keep pace with the changes that have taken place in the market over the years, the Consumer Protection Bill 2018 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 5^th January, 2018 to replace the existing Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The Bill seeks to provide for establishment of an executive agency to be known as the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of the consumers, provision of mediation as an alternate dispute resolution, provision of product liability action and several other provisions for simplification of the consumer disputes adjudication process in the consumer fora. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on 20^th December, 2018 and has been sent to the Rajya Sabha for consideration and passing.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri C.R. Chaudhary in  Lok Sabha  today.

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