BANGALORE: "The State and district consumer forums have not paid some of their utility bills owing to lack of resources," Chandrashekaraiah, President of the Karnataka State Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum, has said.

The situation is likely to worsen as the one-time grant of Rs. 2.5 crores from the Union Government that the redressal forums received in 1996 is running out. "The situation is very bad. Our telephone service has been withdrawn for the past few months because we have not paid the bill," Mr. Chandrashekaraiah said at a press conference here.

He said that earlier this year, the redressal forums had written to the State Government seeking a grant of Rs. 25 lakhs to pay all bills. But they received only Rs. 2 lakhs. "It is insufficient for us," he said.

Rent

Mr. Chandrashekaraiah said a large part of the forum's budget is spent on paying rent for buildings that house the forums. Of the 30 forums spread across the State, 20 are housed in rented buildings.

"We spend over Rs. 30 lakhs a month on paying rent," he added.

The State Commission office as well as the four additional forums in Bangalore, the forums in Kolar, Shimoga, Udupi, Davangere, Haveri, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga and Mandya districts are also in rented buildings. In fact, his office pays a rent of Rs. 17,000 a month for the building in which they were housed, he added.

Rejected

Members of the State commission had written to the State Government requesting space in the multi-storeyed building. However, the Government rejected the offer, he added.

Additional Bench

The President of the State commission said members of the forum have also written to the State Government requesting an additional Bench to be added so that the backlog of cases can be cleared.

At present 1,633 cases are pending before the redressal forums in Bangalore, while over 3,300 cases have been filed so far this year.

There are 3,455 cases pending before the district forums, and over 7,200 cases were filed this year, he added.

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