Question : Consumer Disputes Redressal

(a) whether it is a fact that the Consumer Protection Act was enacted to provide better protection of interest of the consumers, if so, the extent to which it has achieved its objectives;
(b) the total expenditure incurred during the last three years and the current year till date on the maintenance of consumer courts, viz. National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC), State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (SCDRC) and District fora, including the salaries and allowance of their Members;
(c) the total number of complaints received and cases registered in various consumer courts during the last three years and the current year till date and the number of complaints decided in favour of the complainants along with the details of disposal of cases during the said period by NCDRC and SCDRC member/Branch wise in the country; and
(d) the action taken by the Government to dispose of the remaining cases?

THE MINISTER OF STATE
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)


(a) : Yes, Madam. Enactment of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 has set in motion a veritable consumer movement in the country. Under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, a three tier quasi-judiciary machinery has been set up at District, State and National levels for better protection of the interests of consumers and to provide simple and speedy redressal of consumer disputes. At present, 647 District Fora, 35 State Commissions and at the apex level National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) are functioning. As on 31.12.2018, a total of 50,89,368 cases have been filed and 46,34,698 cases have been disposed of in all these Consumer Fora since their inception, thereby achieving a disposal rate of over 91%.





(b) : Total expenditure incurred during the last three years and the current year till 31.12.2018 on the maintenance of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) is given below.

Year Expenditure (in crore)
2015-16 11.00
2016-17 12.89
2017-18 14.32
2018-19 (till 31.12.2018) 12.42

However, maintenance of State Commissions and District Fora are the responsibility of State Governments concerned.
(c) : As per information available on Confonet website, total number of complaints filed and disposed of during the last three years & the current year in the National Commission, State Commissions & District Fora is given below:

2016 2017 2018 2019
Filed Disposed Filed Disposed Filed Disposed Filed Disposed
NCDRC 7733 6070 10807 5899 9005 6378 623 355
SCDRC 32222 21773 34621 25875 28765 23304 2166 1530
District Forum 132462 113832 122225 107539 119653 96150 8519 6770
Total 172417 141675 167653 139313 157423 125832 11308 8655


However, no data related to consumer cases disposed of in favour of consumers is being maintained.

(d) : The following are the steps taken to dispose of pendency in consumer fora:-
(i) The National Commission holds Circuit Bench sittings as per the provisions of Section 22 C of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, for rendering speedy justice at the doorsteps of the consumers of that particular State.
(ii) Some of the State Commissions and District Fora are holding Lok Adalats for speedy disposal of the cases.
(iii) National Commission also conducts sittings during summer vacation.
(iv) The National Commission has also constituted Single Member Bench(es) for speedy disposal of cases.
(v) In the National Commission, matters of the same / similar nature are being bunched together and disposed of.

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