Department of Consumer Affairs & NCDRC organizes conference
to review functioning of State Commissions and District Fora
Source: IT News / PIB
New Delhi, October 27 2018:
Th e D ep art men t of
Co nsu me r A ffa irs,
Government of India along
with Nation al Consumer
Disp ute s Re dre ss al
Commission (NCDRC) jointly
organized a Conference at
VigyanBhawan New Delhi
today to revie w the
func tioning of the S tate
Commissions and District
Fora.
The Conference was
attended by Presidents of
Stat e Commissions and
Secretaries in c ha rge of
Consumer Affairs of States
and UTs.
The Conference
was presided over bythe
Ministe r of St ate for
Consumer Affairs, Food,
Pu blic Distrib ution &
Commerce and Industry,
Shri C.R.Chaudhary, and
President, NCDRC, Justice
R.K .
A ga rw al.
The
Conference is being held at
a crucial time, when the
Government has introduced
a new Consumer Protection
Bill, 2018 in the Lok Sabha
re pe aling th e C ons um er
Protection Act of 1986 with
su bst an tia l c han ge s for
me et in g t he em erging
ch allen ges face d by
co ns um ers in t he n ew
markets.
The Secretary, Department
of Consumer Affairs, Shri
Avinash K.Srivastava, while
welcoming the delegates
me nt ion ed t hat t he
Conference is being held to
discuss the issues relating
to the functioning of the
Co ns ume r Fora suc h as
pendency of case and filling
up of vacancies in the post
of President and Members of the Commissions.
Shri
Srivas tava als o drew
attention to the alternate
wa ys o f red res sa l of
co ns um er co mplaint s,
co mp ute riza tio n of
co nsu me r fora a nd
notification of Model Rules
by the States.
President NCDRC,Justice R.
K.Agarwal, in his address
mentioned about increasing
pendency of cases in various
consum er fora inc luding
national commission and
suggested that the
vac ancies in th ese
commissions should be filled
up e xpeditiously.
Shri
Agarwal emphasized that the
number of adjournment and
appeals should be restricted
according to the monitory
valu e of th e cases .
He
welcomed the introduction
of Me diation in the
Consumer Protection Bill and
mentioned that this will also
help in re ducing the
pendency of cases.
The Minister of State of
Consumer Affairs, Food and
Public Distribution, Shri C.R
Chaudhary, in his address
mentioned that enforcement
of Consumer Protection Act
and allied laws are the joint
responsibility of the Centre
and the States.
Shri C.R
Chau dhary s tated that
Mode l Rules relatin g to
appo intmen t, salary/
remu neratio n and o ther
cond itions o f servic e of
President/ Members in the
State Commission/District
Fora framed by this Ministry
in c onsultat ion with the
National Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission has
been circulated to the States
and UTs.
Th e Minister requested all States and UTs
to issue no tificat ions
adopting these rules as early
as possible.
Shri Chaudhary also
mentioned that the District
Fora should avoid giving any
adjournments and should be
encouraged to decide cases
on the first hearing itself and
requ ested S tate
Commissions to monitor this
aspect.
The Minister further
invited suggestions from the
States for strengthening the
redressal mechanism and the
support required from the
Centre for this purpose.
He
asserted that the
Gove rnment has already
strengthened the National
Consumer Helpline as the
alternate system for
resolving consumer
complaints so that the
consumers need not
approach the consumer fora
forresolving their grievances.
The Minister expected that
this Conference will come out
with a future action plan for
bett er stren gthening the
existing consumer disputes
redressal mechanisms.
The Conference had two
Tech nical S essions .
In
Session I the functioning of
the Consumer Fora, steps to
be t aken to reduce the
pendency of the cases, and
implementation of the Model
Rules etc.
were discussed.
In
the Session II the matters
discussed included progress
of the implementation of
co mp ute riz at ion a nd
networking of Consumer
Fora, utilization of funds
re le ase u nde r vario us
sc hem es su ch as
strengthening and Swachh
Bharat Action Plan.
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