MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS,
FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI SHARAD PAWAR)
(a) to (f): A statement is laid on the table of the
house.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (f) OF LOK
SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 120 FOR 31/07/2006 REGARDING
IMPLEMENTATION OF CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986
(a) to (c): The provisions of the Consumer Protection
Act, 1986 are being implemented by the three-tier Consumer
Disputes Redressal fora functioning at District, State and
National level. The effectiveness of their performance is
evident from the fact that of the nearly 26 lakh cases filed
till June, 2006 before these fora, about 87% of the cases
already stand disposed of.
It is the responsibility of the Central Government to
establish the National Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission (NCDRC) at the national level. The Commission has
been functioning with 3 benches at present. Additional
members are appointed depending on the work load of the
Commission.
The State Governments have the responsibility of
setting up consumer fora at District and State levels. At
present, there is a District Forum in every district and a
State Commission in every State as per the provisions of the
Act. On the recommendations of the NCDRC, the Central
Government has requested certain States to establish
additional District Forum in the Districts with heavy load
of cases and additional benches of the State Commission in
order to speed up the disposal of consumer grievances
pending before the State Commission. The State Governments
concerned have to take decisions in this regard depending on
the availability of budgetary resources.
(d) to (f): The Consumer Welfare Fund (CWF) has been
constituted by Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue
under the Central Excise and Salt Act, 1944. It is operated
by Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution,
Department of Consumer Affairs with the overall objective of
providing financial assistance to promote and protect
welfare of the consumers and strengthen the voluntary
consumer movement in the country, particularly in the rural
areas. It is a non-lapsable fund which is utilized for
financing any worthwhile programme for consumer welfare in
conformity with the guidelines and Rules notified under the
said Act. A number of projects have already been financed
from out of the Fund which include financial assistance to
State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for
setting up State Consumer Welfare Fund for which seed money
at the ratio of 50:50 (Centre:State) is given to the State
Governments/UT Administrations as one time grant. For North
Eastern and other special category states, the ratio is
90:10 (Centre:State). The scheme for setting up of Consumer
Clubs in schools and colleges has been decentralized for
which allocations are made to the State Governments in
proportion to the number of districts in the State/UTs.
Department of Consumer Affairs has initiated a number of
steps to promote a responsible and responsive consumer
movement in the country, which are in line with the best
practices in developed countries. These include, setting up
of the Consumer Online Resource & Empowerment (CORE)
Project, the National Consumer Helpline Project, IIPA
Consultancy Project and a project for Comparative Testing of
products.
