BANGALORE: The State Consumer Commission and the district consumer forums have disposed of 95 per cent of the cases that have been filed by aggrieved consumers, since their inception.

The performance report that was released to the media by president of State Consumer Commission Chandrashekaraiah on Friday. National Consumer Day is observed on December 24.

The report says that only 977 cases are pending before the Karnataka State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission and 2,982 cases were pending before various district forums.

While the State commission disposed of 95.43 per cent of the cases, various district forums have disposed of 96.91 per cent cases filed before them. Mr. Chandrashekaraiah said: "Karnataka has one of the best records in disposal of cases."

Among the category of complaints received by the State commission and district forums include banking, railway, airlines, insurance, telecom, postal, housing, electricity, medical negligence, defective household goods, education, road transport and others.

Regarding the number of execution petitions filed by the consumers to execute the orders, Mr. Chandrashekaraiah said that 721 such petitions had been filed before the State commission, while 13,574 execution petitions have been filed before the district forums.

Vacant posts

The report says that of the 326 sanctioned posts in Karnataka, 82 posts are vacant. Mr. Chandrashekaraiah said the commission has requested the Government to fill the vacant posts.

He said a proposal for creating additional Bench was submitted during 2003-2004 and that it was still awaiting the orders from the State Government.

Awareness

Mr. Chandrashekharaiah said that as the awareness about consumer rights in rural areas was limited, there was a need to strengthen the system to create awareness about the grievance redressal mechanism. The Consumer Protection Act 1986 vests the work of creating awareness in rural areas on the Deputy Commissioner, who is the chairman of the district consumer protection council.

Infrastructure

Seeking land for the construction of district forums, Mr. Chandrashekharaiah said that the Union Government has come out with financial assistance under an integrated project on consumer protection, which would entail each district forum to receive Rs. 30 lakh for the construction of the buildings.

While the district forums at Belguam, Hassan and Bijapur have their own building, the rest are functioning from rented premises. The Government could provide land in other districts, which would enable the commission to utilise funds earmarked under the project, he added.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail