The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Functioning of Consumer Commission disrupted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 11, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Functioning of Consumer Commission disrupted

Staff Reporter

No official to perform duty of court officer

Thiruvananthapuram: The functioning of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission here was disrupted for the second day on Thursday in the absence of anyone to perform the duty of court officer.

No cases could be taken up for hearing as there was none to take up the roll call, following which all cases posted for the day were adjourned to a later date next month. Lawyer, consumer rights activists and complainants pointed out that the same thing had happened the previous day also.

The post of the court officer is a deputation post from the High Court and this position has been remaining vacant for the past one year. Though this is a position which requires the expertise of an official who is well-versed with court procedures, the role was being performed by various staff members at the Commission so far.

In the absence of any training for staff members regarding the procedures of the Commission, this role-play had been affecting the smooth conduct of cases here.

The Commission officials said that several representations had been sent to the Consumer Affairs wing of the Civil Supplies Department regarding the urgent need to fill the court officer's post, to no avail.

The Commission, which handles a large number of cases on a daily basis, has always been hampered by the acute shortage of staff. The Commission has never had staff of its own; all its existing staff belong to the Civil Supplies Department.

Consumer rights activists said that there would be a backlog of cases if the situation continued and demanded that the Government take immediate steps to resolve the crisis.

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