Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Hundreds of cases pending with consumer disputes redressal forum

Staff Reporter

The district forum has no president since June 2003

Thiruvananthapuram: World Consumer Rights Day celebrations on Wednesday may bring little cheer to hundreds of consumers who have been waiting for over three years now for the Thiruvananthapuram district consumer disputes redressal forum to decide on pending cases.

Since June 2003, in the absence of the president of the district forum, a large number of cases in which hearing and evidence gathering have been completed are pending, awaiting final orders.

The State Government is yet to take any steps to fill this post, despite several representations from consumer rights organisations. The two members of the forum can take a decision in cases even in the absence of the president, if they can reach an agreement.

According to consumer rights activists, some 2,000 cases are yet to be decided by the Thiruvananthapuram district forum, while a large number of cases are being dismissed on technical grounds. The mechanism for redressing consumers' grievances in the district has all but collapsed, they allege.

Following the amendment to the Consumer Protection Act by the Centre in 2003, the pecuniary jurisdiction of the district forums went up from Rs. 5 lakhs to Rs. 20 lakhs. Thus, the district forum can now handle cases in which a compensation of up to Rs. 20 lakhs has been sought. As a result, the number and gravity of cases being handled by the forum has been going up substantially.

Liju B. Nair, one of the members of the district forum, points out that due to staff shortage and the increase in the number of cases being filed, including a number of interim appeals, the two-member team at the forum has been finding it increasingly difficult to handle the sheer volume of work involved in disposing of each case.

"Consumer fora now have all the trappings of a civil court following an order of the Supreme Court that even though summary trial procedure can be followed, all legal aspects of a case should be scrutinised properly. Sometimes it takes an year before a new case can be taken up," she says.

Usually, the vacancies in district forums are left to the decision of the selection committee, which selects candidates from a panel forwarded by the Government. The process got derailed after the president of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, who is chairing the selection committee, insisted that candidates can only be selected on merit and not from a pre-prepared panel.

The selection committee finally completed the task of selecting candidates for filling the posts of members in various district fora last week and the list has been sent to the Government for approval. However, even the process of calling for candidates to the post of president is yet to be initiated and it might be a long wait for justice for consumers in the district.

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